--- title: "GS1 Sunrise 2027: Digital Link QR Codes for Packaging" description: "Retail point of sale must read 2D barcodes by 31 December 2027. How to register a GTIN, set its links, and test a conformant resolver before you commit artwork." canonical: https://reroutehq.com/resources/gs1-digital-link-packaging-2027 --- # How to get packaging ready for GS1 Sunrise 2027 with a Digital Link QR code **Who this is for:** Packaging, CPG and private-label teams GS1 has asked every retail point-of-sale system to be able to read 2D barcodes by 31 December 2027. Pilots run in 48 countries and several major retailers are already live. For a brand, the practical consequence is that a QR code carrying a GTIN needs something to answer it. That service is called a resolver, and it is the part most teams have never had to buy before. ## Steps ### 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. ## What this will not do - GTIN is the only primary key supported. We do not resolve GLN, SSCC or GMN. - Digital Product Passport is not implemented. If DPP is your requirement today, we are not the right vendor yet. - Serving the resolver from your own domain rather than ours requires a custom domain, which sits on a higher plan than the resolver itself. Check the pricing page before you assume. - Sunrise 2027 is an industry initiative, not a law. The pressure is commercial rather than statutory. ## Frequently asked questions ### What actually is a resolver? The service that answers a request for a GTIN and sends it to the right place. A QR code is a picture of a URL; a resolver is what makes that URL return different, structured answers to a shopper's phone and to a retailer's system. ### How do I tell a real resolver from a GS1-formatted URL? Ask for the linkset. A conformant resolver returns every registered destination as RFC 9264 JSON under content negotiation. A generator that has added GS1-shaped URLs as a feature cannot answer that request. ### Does my existing barcode stop working? No. Dual barcoding is the recommended transition path — the linear barcode stays on pack until 2D coverage at the till is high enough. ### Can I try it before committing packaging artwork? Yes, and you should. Register one GTIN, point it at a test page and query it four ways. None of that requires a print run. ## Related - [/tools/gs1-barcode-qr-code](/tools/gs1-barcode-qr-code) - [/tools/url-qr-code](/tools/url-qr-code) - [Developer documentation](/developers) - [Pricing](/pricing)