The Serial Shipping Container Code or the SSCC is used throughout the supply chain as an entity identifier for item tracing and internal control. It is the only mandatory field on the UCC/EAN logistics label.

(Supplier=>Transporter=>Distributor=>Transporter=>Customer diagram

SSCC contains 18 digits started with an extension digit and ended with a check digit. The check digit is calculated according to the UCC/EAN algorithm ( same as UPC/EAN check digit).



The SSCC is encoded with Code128 symbology (UCC/EAN-128). Since UCC/EAN128 is also used to encode other information in the shipping label, two digits, called Application Identifier (AI) are added at the beginning of the barcode. For details about AI and UCC/EAN shipping label, read the article UCC/EAN Shipping Label.



SSCC check digit is calculated the same way as UPC/EAN number. Here is the steps to calculate SSCC check digit:
1. From the right to left, start with odd position, assign the odd/even position to each digit.
2. Sum all digits in odd position and multiply the result by 3.
3. Sum all digits in even position.
4. Sum the results of step 3 and step 4.
5. Divide the result of step 4 by 10. The check digit is the number which adds the remainder to 10.