“Pstt, hey buddy, wanna buy a barcode?”
Here on a site called ferret, which says it is Australia’s manufacturing and industrial directory, is the story of a businesswoman who apparently succumbed to this offer. In brief, here is her tale:
An innovative Australian businesswoman found that having the right, authorised GS1 BarCodes on your products can make a world of difference when dealing with one of Australia’s biggest retailers… As a new entrant into retail, Rachael searched the Internet for barcodes for her products and found an online re-seller that purported their bar code numbers were legitimate and fit for use in retail. Buying these in good faith, Rachael applied them to her products and began using these numbers in her barcodes. It became apparent that the numbers were not unique, nor able to be used in retail.
Turns out there are at least two better options. One, people like Rachael and small organizations like hers can approach GS1 directly to get what they want. Two, people and organizations of virtually any size can call Loftware which will show anyone how to manage and print their own GS1 barcodes, in any quantity, anywhere in the world, for an unlimited number of products.
GHS and Regulatory Labeling Challenges in the New Era 
