Universal Product Code

The patch of irregular vertical lines that revolutionized checking out at the supermarket and facilitated the globalization of retail is turning 50.

But as the barcode celebrates its birthday today, its days might be numbered as it faces competition from the younger QR code, the information-filled squares used in smartphones.

The Council of the EU has recorded here that Bulgaria deposited its instrument of ratification of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement's Protocol on Provisional Application (PPA) with the Council's General Secretariat on 24 July 2018.