What is the Electronic Product Code?

The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is a set of identification coding or numbering standards. Unlike the bar codes commonly used to distinguish a can of soup from a box of chocolate chip biscuits, the EPC can identify a specific can of soup or box of biscuits by its unique ID number. The EPC contains no personal information. Some experts believe that in years to come the EPC – together with RFID – will be as common as the barcode is today. In fact, it is often called the "next-generation barcode".