Last updated: March 2026
The retail industry is working to a firm deadline. By 2027, major retailers around the world are expected to accept 2D barcodes — specifically QR codes structured to the GS1 Digital Link standard — at point of sale, in addition to or in place of traditional 1D Universal Product Code (UPC) and European Article Number (EAN) barcodes. This transition, known as GS1 Sunrise 2027, has been years in the planning and involves changes that reach far beyond the checkout scanner. For brand owners, importers, and supply chain teams, the window to act is narrowing.
In this guide, you will learn:
GS1 Sunrise 2027 is not a regulatory mandate in the legislative sense — no government agency will issue a fine if a 2D barcode is absent from a cereal box on January 1, 2027. It is, however, a coordinated industry commitment made by the world's largest retailers. GS1, the global standards organization that maintains barcode standards used in 150 countries, has worked with retailers including Walmart, Target, Carrefour, Tesco, and others to commit to a common adoption schedule.
The core commitment is this: by 2027, point-of-sale (POS) systems across these retailers' networks will be capable of scanning and processing 2D barcodes. Specifically, those 2D barcodes are expected to encode a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) in a GS1 Digital Link URI — a web address structured to the GS1 Digital Link standard (ISO/IEC 18975) that can be resolved to rich product data. The 1D UPC and EAN barcodes will not disappear overnight. Most retailers are planning for a period of dual-symbol operation, where both 1D and 2D barcodes appear on product packaging simultaneously.
The practical implication is significant. A brand that only carries 1D barcodes on its packaging today must plan for when to introduce the 2D symbol — and must ensure that symbol encodes the correct data in the correct format.
GS1 Sunrise 2027 is built around two distinct phases that are often conflated.
Sunrise 2027 refers to the point at which retailers have upgraded their POS infrastructure to accept 2D barcodes. The target year is 2027, and many large retailers are tracking to that commitment. This is the date by which the retail scanning environment will be ready to read 2D barcodes.
Sunset — which does not yet have a fixed global date — refers to the eventual retirement of 1D barcodes as the primary machine-readable symbol on consumer products. GS1 has indicated this is a longer-horizon event, likely post-2030 for most product categories. Until that point, brands are expected to carry both symbols.
The distinction matters for planning purposes. The 2027 date is not the date by which every product must carry a 2D barcode — it is the date by which every major retailer's scanner must be capable of reading one. What this creates is a window. If your products are on retail shelves in 2027 and carry only a 1D barcode, nothing breaks at checkout. But if your retailer requires a 2D barcode as a condition of listing, or if you want to use the QR code for consumer engagement and traceability before sunset, 2027 is the practical start line.
Several major US retailers have accelerated their own internal timelines. Walmart, for instance, has communicated requirements to certain supplier categories ahead of the broader 2027 target. Brand owners and importers should verify the specific requirements of their key retail partners, as retailer-specific mandates can be more stringent than the GS1 baseline schedule.
The Sunrise 2027 timeline creates pressure at four distinct points in the supply chain, and each has a different lead time.
Packaging and label design. Introducing a GS1 Digital Link QR code onto product packaging requires artwork changes. For brands that manage packaging design in-house, this is a reasonably contained change. For brands that work through contract manufacturers or co-packers, the timeline extends to accommodate manufacturer scheduling, film and label print lead times, and minimum order quantities. Packaging changes that need to be live by 2027 may need to be in design by 2025 or early 2026 for some product categories.
GS1 Digital Link resolver infrastructure. A GS1 Digital Link QR code is not a static image — it is a web address that must resolve to product data when scanned. A brand must either operate its own resolver or use a third-party resolver service. The resolver must return the correct data for each scanned GTIN, and for serialized products, each individual item. This infrastructure must be live before the QR code reaches retail shelves.
Data readiness. The resolver needs accurate, structured product data to serve to anyone who scans the code — whether that is a consumer checking ingredients, a retailer's inventory system, or a regulatory body requesting sustainability information. Many brands discover during Sunrise 2027 preparation that their product data is incomplete, inconsistent across systems, or stored in formats that cannot be served via a web API. Data remediation is typically the longest single task in the transition program.
POS and back-end systems for retailers. This applies primarily to retail operators rather than brand owners. POS scanners must be upgraded or reconfigured to decode 2D barcodes and extract the GTIN from a GS1 Digital Link URI. ERP and inventory management systems must be able to process the richer data payloads that 2D barcodes can carry. GS1 has published technical specifications for this transition, and most major POS hardware vendors have been shipping 2D-capable scanners for several years.
Consider a consumer packaged goods brand with a vitamin supplement product. The product has a GTIN of 09780201379624. Under Sunrise 2027, the product's QR code encodes a GS1 Digital Link URI structured as follows:
https://resolver.brand.com/01/09780201379624
Breaking this down:
https://resolver.brand.com — the brand's resolver domain; brands may use any domain they operate as a resolver — only the GS1 Company Prefix embedded in the GTIN requires a GS1 license/01/ — GS1 Application Identifier 01, which signals that the following digits are a GTIN/09780201379624 — the 14-digit GTIN for this productWhen a POS scanner reads this code, it extracts the GTIN and processes the transaction exactly as it would with a 1D barcode. The difference is that the same scan, on a consumer's phone, can open a web page with product information, sustainability data, or a Digital Product Passport. The code carries the same GTIN used for decades — it is the carrier and what sits behind it that changes.
For serialized products — common in pharma, wine, spirits, and luxury goods — the URI extends to include a serial number:
https://resolver.brand.com/01/09780201379624/21/SN4892001
The /21/ is GS1 Application Identifier 21 (serial number). This level of granularity enables item-level traceability, authentication, and recall management that 1D barcodes cannot support.
The Sunrise 2027 transition does not exist in isolation. For brands selling into the European Union, the same GS1 Digital Link QR code that satisfies the retail scanning requirement will likely serve as the access point for the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) mandated under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), Regulation (EU) 2024/1781.
ESPR entered into force on July 18, 2024. Sector-specific delegated acts — which specify the precise data requirements for each product category — are being published on a rolling basis. Batteries are the lead category, though it is important to note that the Battery Passport is mandated under the separate EU Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 — not an ESPR delegated act — with requirements taking effect in February 2027. The Battery Passport uses the same GS1 Digital Link infrastructure as ESPR, making these complementary initiatives. Textiles and apparel delegated acts under ESPR are expected in late 2026 or early 2027. Electronics, furniture, and other categories follow through the 2028-2030 ESPR Working Plan period.
The architectural connection is direct. ESPR requires that each product carry a unique identifier accessible via a data carrier — and GS1 Digital Link is the industry-standard mechanism for delivering that identifier. A brand that implements GS1 Digital Link for Sunrise 2027 has, in the same action, laid the foundation for ESPR DPP compliance. The two initiatives share the same underlying data infrastructure: a QR code that encodes a GTIN in a GS1 Digital Link URI, resolving to structured product data.
This convergence is not a coincidence. GS1 has been active in the DPP standardization process, and the EU has recognized GS1 Digital Link as a conformant data carrier for DPP purposes. For brands with EU market exposure, planning these two initiatives together — rather than sequentially — avoids significant duplication of effort.
A supply chain team preparing for Sunrise 2027 today — in early 2026 — is working with roughly 12 to 18 months of runway before the primary deadline. That is sufficient time for most brands, provided the work begins now.
A practical readiness roadmap has five stages:
GTIN audit. Confirm that every product intended for retail sale has a valid, GS1-registered GTIN. For brands that have acquired other companies, licensed products, or operate in multiple markets, GTIN hygiene is often the first discovery item.
Resolver selection and setup. Decide whether to operate a proprietary resolver or use a managed service. Configure the resolver for each GTIN in scope. For brands with hundreds or thousands of SKUs, this step benefits from bulk configuration tooling.
Data preparation. Identify what data will be served when each QR code is scanned. At minimum, this is the product name, GTIN, and a consumer-facing landing page. For DPP-readiness, this expands to include materials, certifications, sustainability attributes, and supply chain provenance data. Collecting this data — particularly from suppliers — is almost always the longest stage.
Packaging redesign. Commission the artwork changes required to add the 2D barcode to product packaging. Sequence this after resolver setup so that the QR code printed on packaging points to a live, tested resolver.
Retailer testing and validation. Before product reaches shelves, confirm with key retail partners that the GS1 Digital Link QR code scans correctly in their POS environment and that the data returned satisfies their technical requirements.
The critical path bottleneck for most brands is stage three — data preparation. Supplier data collection in particular tends to surface gaps that take weeks or months to close. Starting that process early, and using structured collection tools rather than email and spreadsheets, compresses the timeline materially.
TrackVision AI is built specifically for the data and infrastructure requirements that Sunrise 2027 and DPP compliance create.
The platform's GS1 Digital Link resolver lets brands generate standards-compliant QR codes for their full product catalog and configure exactly what data each code resolves to — for consumers, retailers, and regulatory systems. The DPP Page Builder builds the consumer-facing and compliance-facing product pages that each QR code links to, without requiring engineering resource to build and host custom web pages.
The AI Supplier Portal addresses the data preparation bottleneck directly. Rather than chasing suppliers for information via email, brands send structured data requests through the portal, and suppliers self-serve their responses. The AI extracts structured data from supplier documents — including PDFs, certificates, and specification sheets — and maps it to the correct DPP data fields. Scan Analytics then provides visibility into where and when codes are scanned, giving supply chain teams and brand managers live data on code performance across markets and retail environments.
For teams that need to assess where they stand before committing to an implementation program, the platform's Compliance Assessment runs a readiness check against GS1 Sunrise 2027 and ESPR requirements for your specific product categories and markets — giving you a concrete view of what is done, what is in progress, and what is missing.
If your organization is planning its Sunrise 2027 response and wants to understand the gap between your current state and compliance readiness, book a 15-minute demo with the TrackVision team. We will show you exactly where your products stand and what it takes to close the gap before the deadline.
What is the GS1 Sunrise 2027 deadline, and is it legally binding?
GS1 Sunrise 2027 is a coordinated industry commitment — not a government regulation — under which major retailers agree to upgrade point-of-sale systems to accept 2D barcodes by 2027. It is not legally binding in the legislative sense, but major retail partners may enforce it through their own supplier requirements. Brands should confirm the specific timelines their key retail accounts have communicated.
Do I need to remove my UPC or EAN barcode from packaging in 2027?
No. The 2027 date marks when retailers' POS systems will be capable of reading 2D barcodes — not when 1D barcodes will stop working. GS1 refers to the eventual retirement of 1D barcodes as "sunset," and that date has not been fixed globally. Most industry guidance anticipates a multi-year period of dual-symbol packaging, where both 1D and 2D barcodes appear on the same product.
What data does a GS1 Digital Link QR code need to encode?
At minimum, a GS1 Digital Link QR code must encode the product's Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) as a structured web address — for example, https://resolver.example.com/01/09780201379624. Optionally, it can encode batch numbers, serial numbers, expiry dates, and other GS1 Application Identifiers. The code must resolve, when scanned, to a page or data feed that returns information relevant to the scanning context.
How does Sunrise 2027 connect to the EU Digital Product Passport requirement?
The EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) requires products to carry a unique identifier accessible via a data carrier — and GS1 Digital Link is the recognized standard for this. A GS1 Digital Link QR code implemented for Sunrise 2027 can serve simultaneously as the DPP data carrier required under ESPR. Brands with EU market exposure can treat these two initiatives as a single infrastructure investment rather than two separate programs.
How much time does a Sunrise 2027 implementation typically take?
A full implementation — covering GTIN audit, resolver setup, data collection from suppliers, packaging redesign, and retailer testing — typically takes 4 to 12 months depending on the size of the product catalog, the complexity of the supply chain, and the current state of supplier data. The longest single step is almost always supplier data collection. Brands with hundreds of SKUs and multi-tier supply chains should begin planning in 2026 to avoid risk of missing 2027 retailer requirements.