Revising the National Drug Code Format and Drug Label Barcode Requirements

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the Agency, or we) is issuing a final rule to standardize the format of the National Drug Code (NDC). Under this final rule, all FDA-assigned NDCs will be required to be 12 digits in length with 3 distinct segments and 1 uniform format. The first segment is a 6-digit labeler code, the second segment is a 4-digit product code, and the third segment is a 2-digit package code. Additionally, we are revising the drug product barcode label requirements to permit the use of other data carriers that meet the standards of this final rule.

Abstract as published in the Federal Register.

The complete document — every provision, the docket, and the comment instructions — is published in the Federal Register. SPEQ surfaces and indexes it for reference; the authoritative text lives on federalregister.gov.