The symbol comprises the following elements:

• Start bar, which is a tall bar that indicates the beginning of the barcode

• Encoded address information

• Check digit

• Stop bar, which is a tall bar that indicates the end of the barcode

CEPNet encodes data by varying the height of the bars in the barcode. All of the bars are the same width, and all of the spaces are the same width. Each digit that is encoded into a CEPNet symbol contains five bars, two of which are tall and three of which are short.

This symbology supports all numeric digits (0-9).

CEPNet contains a check digit that is based on the modulo 10 (mod 10) algorithm. It sums the eight digits and then appends the check digit that makes all nine of the digits in the barcode add up to a multiple of 10. For example, the postal code 12345678 appends a check digit of 4 (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8 = 36+4 = 40).

The dimensions of a CEPNet symbol must adhere to the following specifications:

• The height of the tall bars is 3.175 mm, plus or minus 0.254 mm

• The height of the short bars is 1.27 mm, plus or minus 0.254 mm

• All bars must be between 0.381 mm and 0.635 mm wide

• The space between bars must be between 0.406 mm and 1.016 mm wide

• The pitch (a bar and a space) must be between 20 and 24 bars per inch (25.4 mm)

The CEPNet symbol must be positioned inside the address block. It can be in one of the following locations:

• Immediately above the recipient's address

• Immediately below the recipient's address

• Below an optional description line or line of information

• Above an optional description line or line of information

In addition, there must be a 10X quiet zone (where "X" is the current X dimension) on either side of the barcode and a minimum white space of 1.016 mm above and below the barcode.