GS1 resolver: one printed QR code for Sunrise 2027 and the Digital Product Passport

One printed QR code can carry your product through retail checkout in 2027 and into the Digital Product Passport whenever your sector’s rules apply, without a reprint in between. The part that makes this work is the resolver, the service that receives each scan and works out where to send it.

Two timelines that keep getting confused

GS1 Sunrise 2027 and the Digital Product Passport are regularly treated as one initiative. They run on separate tracks.

The Digital Product Passport comes from EU regulation, the ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, 2024/1781), and applies only to designated product categories, each on its own schedule. Batteries come first in February 2027; textiles, furniture and electronics follow as delegated acts are adopted. Most consumer products are outside the scope today.

GS1 Sunrise 2027 is a retail programme: by the end of 2027, retailers plan to be able to read GS1-compliant QR codes at point of sale. It sets the identification layer, how a product is recognised at checkout. The content obligations, where they exist, come from each sector’s own rules. Sunrise is the timeline that touches most brands, and it is best read as an opportunity: the same mark that clears the till can also open a direct channel to the person holding the product.

The value sits behind the QR code

A printed QR code never changes. The intelligence lives in the resolver.

Unlike a plain redirect, a resolver can answer differently depending on who is scanning and in what context. A shopper lands on the product page, a checkout scanner gets the GS1 identification it needs, and a recycler or a market-surveillance system can reach information of its own. All from the same printed QR code, because a GS1 Digital Link (a structured web address carrying the product’s GTIN) leaves the routing decision to the resolver rather than the label.

And the destination is your call. Nothing forces you to point at a compliance page today. Until your sector is covered by a delegated act, your links can serve marketing, consumer engagement, traceability or after-sales. Bonduelle already runs its ranges this way, with GS1 Digital Link QR codes whose destinations the team changes without touching the packaging. A major French appliance manufacturer is preparing the Digital Product Passport on the same infrastructure, and textile brands are setting up ahead of the delegated act projected for late 2027.

Add the passport later, from a screen

A product outside DPP scope today may be regulated tomorrow, one delegated act at a time. With a resolver, that switch is a configuration change: the passport becomes another destination behind the QR code you already printed. No packaging redesign and no reprinting of labels across your range.

Without a resolver, the same switch means new artwork and print files, then a reprint campaign across every SKU in scope. Over a portfolio of dozens of products and several markets, the difference between the two paths is measured in full print cycles.

So the decision that matters is the infrastructure behind the QR code. Unitag’s Digital Link Resolver manages which GTIN opens which destination, by brand, range and product, with rules by language, country and device. It is EU-hosted and GDPR-compliant, certified by GS1 and listed as a GS1 Solution Provider. Scan analytics stay readable for marketing and IT alike. The GS1 Digital Link guide covers the standard in depth, and the QR codes page covers day-to-day creation and management.

For technical teams who want the full picture, we publish the complete requirements for a DPP-ready resolver (the EN standards, resolver behaviour, link types) as a downloadable reference document. Get the technical specifications

Read next

• The EU Digital Product Passport registry is live
• GS1 Digital Link resolver: the practical guide
• GS1 Sunrise 2027: the QR code deadline, and what to prepare in 2026