GS1 Sunrise 2027
What Sunrise 2027 actually requires — and what it doesn't.
There is a lot of noise about 2D barcodes and a 2027 deadline. Most of it overstates the obligation and understates the work. Here is the straight version, and what it means for a line that is already coding product today.
Straight answers
Three things you have probably been told that are wrong.
Every product must carry a 2D barcode by 31 December 2027.
It is a scanner capability deadline. The date is when major retailers' POS systems should be able to read 2D — not when your packaging must change.
U.P.C. barcodes stop working in 2027.
They continue to be accepted and scanned. Phasing out linear barcodes is not part of the Sunrise initiative, and sunset has no fixed global date.
You should drop the linear barcode when you add 2D.
During transition most packs carry both. Removing the U.P.C. before your trading partners are ready risks failed checkouts.
None of this means the transition is optional. More than 60 major retailers have committed to piloting or supporting 2D at point of sale. If a retailer makes 2D a condition of listing, or you want the consumer and traceability value the barcode unlocks, 2027 is the practical start line rather than the finish line.
How retailers roll it out
Three tiers, and only one is the deadline.
Knowing which tier a trading partner is at tells you how much of the barcode they will actually use — and how much value you can expect back.
GTIN only
POS reads the GTIN from the 2D barcode and processes it exactly like a 1D scan. No additional data extracted. This is the baseline for Sunrise conformance.
Attributes
POS reads GTIN plus batch, serial and expiry. Enables automated date checking at the till, precise recall scoping, and better inventory accuracy.
Full Digital Link
POS processes the complete Digital Link URI, supporting loyalty, regulatory lookups and real-time pricing. Requires middleware between scanner and POS.
Why manufacturers care
One symbol can replace three.
Many packs already carry a linear barcode for checkout, a DataMatrix for traceability, and a marketing QR for the consumer. A Digital Link barcode can serve all three, because the same code resolves differently depending on who scans it and why.
That is a pack real-estate and artwork-cost argument before it is a technology one — which is why the practical moment to move is your next artwork revision, not a date on a calendar.
Where AIQR fits
Printing it and resolving it are the same problem.
A Digital Link has to be built with variable data, encoded, printed correctly at line speed, verified, and then resolved with the right response. Most vendors do one half. We do both ends, which is the only way the code you print is the code that works.
Digital Link URIs, generated and parsed
Codes are produced as GS1 Digital Link URIs carrying GTIN with batch, expiry and serial as required, and parsed back on scan.
EPCIS events
Supply chain events in EPCIS form — the structure that traceability programmes such as FSMA 204 and DSCSA consume.
Printed on your existing line
AIQR Edge drives the coder directly, so the Digital Link URI with its variable data is applied at line speed on the printers you already run.
Context-aware resolution
One code resolves differently by context — consumer page, authentication response, or traceability record — without reprinting anything.
Conformance verification at the point of print
Beyond checking a code is readable, validating that it is a structurally conformant Digital Link — URI form, application identifiers, GTIN check digit, serial within the allocated block — and rejecting failures on the line.
On claims: GTINs are licensed to you by GS1 through its member organisations — we encode the GTIN you already hold, we do not issue it. We describe our capability as generating, printing, parsing and resolving GS1 Digital Link, which is what we do. We do not claim GS1 certification, and you should be wary of anyone who does so casually.