Packaging, CPG and private-label teams

How to get packaging ready for GS1 Sunrise 2027 with a Digital Link QR code

1. 1

   Claim the GS1 company prefix you license

   The prefix is globally unique in our system, so once claimed nobody else can register GTINs underneath it. Claims are self-asserted today — we do not yet verify them against GS1's own API, and we would rather say so than imply we do.

2. 2

   Register a GTIN and its link types

   One GTIN carries many destinations keyed by GS1 vocabulary link types: product information, allergens, instructions, a recall notice, a reorder page. Add as many as the product needs.

3. 3

   Test all four request shapes before artwork

   A plain scan should redirect to your default link. A link type request should redirect to that specific one. A linkset request should return every destination as JSON without redirecting. And the resolver description should be published for GS1 tooling to discover. Check all four while changing them is still free.

4. 4

   Print the dual barcode

   GS1 recommends carrying both codes through the transition: your existing linear EAN or UPC stays on pack alongside the 2D code until point-of-sale coverage is high enough to drop it. Nothing you print today stops working.

5. 5

   Update destinations without touching the pack

   The whole reason this is worth doing. When the recipe changes, the campaign ends or a recall notice is needed, you change the link — not the fifty thousand cartons already in the supply chain.