SARS

Customs Road Freight Manifest

Barcode Specification

Date: June 2014

Version: DRAFT – 0.4

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Purpose

The purpose of the presentation is to:

• Table the draft Cargo Reference Number (CARN) specification in terms of the Customs Road Freight Manifest

• Indicate the allowed SARS BARCODE symbologies and specifications

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Cargo Reference Number (CARN)

1. Upon acceptance of a Road Freight Manifests the system will generate an unique reference that will be used during arrival management

2. This will be known as the Cargo Reference Number (CARN)

3. SARS will provide Trade with a CARN number in the CUSRES response

4. The number will be prefixed by CARN, the BARCODE Version and then followed by 6 Alphanumeric characters excluding vowels and numeral 0 allowing 729 000 000 (306) variations which will be unique during the lifetime of the project

5. The CARN will only contain UPPERCASE characters

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CARN Number Specification

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1. 12 Alphanumeric Charactersa) 4 Alphanumeric Static Prefix = Static prefix containing CARN to

prevent SARS operators to manually enter a CARN number in the Manifest field

b) 2 Alphanumeric Barcode Version = Versioning will contain the positioning of data in the character string

c) 6 Alphanumeric CARN segment = The unique external reference number that will be read for a lookup of the Manifest data

2. 23 Character future reservation a) Trailing the first 12 characters will be 23 "space reserved" characters to

allow for future fields that might be required. This should not be part of the BARCODE

35 Characters via CUSRES

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

PREFIX (4) VER (2) CARN (6) Future Character Reservation (23)

C A R N X X X X X X X X                                              

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Barcode Specification Type QRC

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The 35 alphanumeric characters resulted in selecting Version 3-H

Quick Reference Code (QRC) - ISO/IEC 18004:2006 bar code symbology *Type - QR Code 2005

* Source - ISO/IEC18004 Second Edition 2006-09-01 - page 33

Version 3-H

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QRC - Minimum Barcode Size

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Assumed Scanning Distance 150 mm

Distance Factor = 10 – 1 (cater for bad lighting) 9

Density Factor = 29/25 1,16

Minimum QR Code Size = (Scanning Distance / Distance Factor) * Data Density Factor

19,33 mm rounder to 20 mm x 20 mm

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QRC - Margin Size / Quiet Zone

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The ISO/IEC 18004 standard defines Quiet Zone as a region which shall be free of all other markings, surrounding the symbol on all four sides. Width for number of module at each side should be four if according to ISO/IEC.

Calculated Barcode Size 20 mm x 20 mm

Version 3 Modules 29

Module Size = 20mm/29 0,68 mm/module

Minimum Quite Zone = 4 x modules = 4 x 0,68

Minimum2,72 mm rounded 

to 3mm

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QRC - Minimum BARCODE Size and Quite Zone Size

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3 mm Quite Zone around Barcode (in addition to)

2 cm x 2 cm Minimum Barcode

Size

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Barcode Specification Type - Code-128 bar code symbology

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Code 128 Barcode Symbology was added as an second option SARS BARCODE specification on request by trade and closely aligned to the GS1-128 (UCC/EAN/) SSCC specification.

It does NOT follow the UCC/EANGS1-128 formatting specification as the CARN number is not a SSCC formatted code.

GS1-128 (formerly known as UCC/EAN-128) is a subset of Code 128 and is used extensively world wide in shipping and packaging industries as a product identification code for the container and pallet levels in the supply chain. The symbology was formerly defined as ISO/IEC 15417:2007.

A Code 128 barcode will have six sections:

1. Quiet Zone2. Start Character3. Encoded Data4. Check Character5. Stop Character6. Quiet Zone

1 6

2 543

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Code-128 Barcode – Minimum Size

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The most basic unit of measure within a barcode is the x-dimension and is equivalent to the width of the most narrow bar or space within the barcode. Each character is 11 x-dimensions wide (except for the STOP character which is 13 wide). The minimum size of the x-dimension is 0,1905 mm. The overall length of a barcode varies because the number of DATA characters may vary; however, it follows this formula:

Length:L = (11 * C + 35) * X where:L = Overall length (not including Quiet Space)C = Number of DATA characters (not including START, CHECK, or STOP)X = length of x-dimension

CARN01ABC123

Code128Barcode -> C = 12, X = 0.254mmL = (11 * 12 + 35) * = 0.254mm= 42,418mm without Quiet Zones

Quiet Zones”Blank spaces before and after the barcode. They help the barcode reader to distinguish the barcode from other markings. Each Quiet Zone must be at least 10 x-dimensionsQuiet Zone = (10 * 0,254mm) = 2.54mm

Height:The height of the barcode is assume at 30% of the length excluding Quite ZonesH = 0,30 * 42,418mm = 12,725mm

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Code-128 Barcode – Minimum Size

11

42,42mm

2.5mm

12,

73m

m

2.5mm

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Formal Response to BG Submission_Draft Rules on Road Freight Cargo Manifests_25 April 2014_(4778044_1)

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Formal Response to BG Submission_Draft Rules on Road Freight Cargo Manifests_25 April 2014_(4778044_1)

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Technical Comments on CARN:

Point 20:The proposed Cargo Reference Number (CARN) is a SARS internal system reference number and not a serialized shipping container code (SSCC). It is a system reference that relates to a submitted MANIFEST for quick reference to the MANIFEST data during the gate arrival process. It does not represent a product identification code for the container and pallet levels in a supply chain.

Point 21:The proposed CARN number is only a 12 (96 bits) alphanumeric character string that will be sent in the CUSRES with the specific reservation of 35 alphanumeric characters.CARN capacity must not to be confused with the CUSRES field reservation.

This is done to leave reserve space for future requirements.

SARS selected the BARCODE symbology based on the maximum CUSRES characters reserved for the CARN (35) to future proof the BARCODE Symbology Type.

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Formal Response to BG Submission_Draft Rules on Road Freight Cargo Manifests_25 April 2014_(4778044_1)

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Technical Comments on Barcode:

Point 22:

The DPI assumption was in view of determining the quite zone around the barcode. SARS has taken note of this and have recalculated the prescribed margin size based on the ISO quite zone recommendation of modules x4 thus removing the printer quality assumption/dependency.

Point 23:

The Minimum barcode size calculation resulted in a 2cm x 2cm QCR barcode.The Recalculated Minimum quite zone around the barcode should not be less than 3 mm all around the Barcode. Pages 6 and 7 of this presentation has been updated to be more explicit.