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The Electronic Product Code, (EPC), is a family of coding schemes for Gen 2 RFID tags. It is designed to meet the needs of various industries, while guaranteeing uniqueness for all EPC-compliant tags. The EPC accommodates existing coding schemes and defines new schemes where necessary.

The EPC was the creation of the MIT Auto-ID Center, a consortium of over 120 global corporations and university labs. The EPC system is currently managed by EPCglobal, Inc., a subsidiary of GS1, creators of the UPC barcode.

The Electronic Product Code promises to become the standard for global RFID usage, and a core element of the proposed EPCglobal Network.

All EPC numbers contain a header identifying the encoding scheme that has been used. This in turn dictates the length, type and structure of the EPC. EPC encoding schemes frequently contain a serial number which can be used to uniquely identify one object.

EPC Version 1.3 supports the following coding schemes:

• General Identifier (GID) GID-96
• a serialized version of the GS1 Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) SGTIN-96 SGTIN-198
• GS1 Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) SSCC-96
• GS1 Global Location Number (GLN), SGLN-96 SGLN-195
• GS1 Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI) GRAI-96 GRAI-170
• GS1 Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI) GIAI-96 GIAI-202 and
• DOD Construct DoD-96

• EPCglobal Tag Data Standards Version 1.3
• EPCglobal Tag Data Standards Version 1.3 (broken link ?)
• ManningRF Info Center -- Contains reviews and information concerning EPC-compatible RFID devices and software. Also contains a list of primers and FAQs concerning EPC compatibility issues.
• EPC Step by Step Explanation
• Global RFID. The Value of the EPCglobal Network for Supply Chain Management -- Contains a lot of information by some MIT people involved in the development of EPC.