The invention is about a marking method and a corresponding coding center device for the marking of individual (1), such as security documents, currency, tax excise stamps, labels, pieces of packaging, articles, or transportation means, with pertinent information indicating their nature and/or content, origin and/or destination, etc., and their registration in a remote, centralized data base, enabling the tracking & tracing of said items (1) and of the goods they may be applied to. The method of the invention is based on a three-step printreadcancel (PRC) sequence, embodied in a device comprising a printing unit (P), a reading unit (R) and a canceling unit (C), arranged in-line on an integrated equipment and operating under the control of information processing means (IP).