Ambition 2027: What Retail's 2D Barcode Transition Means for Digital Product Passports

Ambition 2027 is not a Digital Product Passport deadline. It is an industry goal for retail point-of-sale systems to become capable of reading and processing the GTIN from both existing linear and GS1-compliant 2D barcodes by the end of 2027. That distinction matters because DPP teams and retail teams are solving different problems on the same artwork. A product can face an EU information requirement, a retailer scanning requirement and a GS1 migration programme at the same time. The dates and authority behind those requirements are not interchangeable. The practical consequence is clear: businesses designing packaging now should understand the 2D transition, but should not remove linear barcodes or choose a DPP carrier simply because “2027” appears in a presentation.

Who set Ambition 2027?

GS1 and industry participants set the goal as part of the transition from traditional linear retail barcodes to more capable 2D barcodes.

That gives it real commercial importance. Retailers, brands, scanner providers, software suppliers and packaging teams have to coordinate if more data is going to move through the point of sale.

But the source of authority is industry standards and implementation guidance, not EU legislation.

That is why this sentence is wrong:

“The EU requires retailers to replace 1D barcodes with 2D barcodes by 2027.”

The current EU DPP framework does not say that.

What the target actually asks retail systems to do

The initial goal is narrower than “all 2D barcodes work everywhere”.

The GS1 guideline says retail POS should be capable of reading and processing the GTIN from both existing linear and 2D barcodes by the end of 2027.

That can require:

• scanner software upgrades;
• scanner hardware upgrades where existing equipment is not suitable;
• host POS software changes;
• rules for prioritising one barcode where both 1D and 2D appear;
• data parsing for GS1 Application Identifiers;
• item-master changes;
• exception handling;
• supplier and store testing.

A scanner producing a beep is only the first step. The POS host still has to understand the identity it receives and use it correctly.

Which 2D barcodes does GS1 recognise for the retail transition?

The current GS1 retail guideline names three future-state retail 2D barcode choices:

• QR Code with GS1 Digital Link URI syntax;
• Data Matrix with GS1 Digital Link URI syntax;
• GS1 DataMatrix.

That is one reason the terms need to stay precise. QR Code and Data Matrix are physical symbologies. GS1 Digital Link is URI syntax. GS1 DataMatrix is a GS1 implementation of Data Matrix using GS1 syntax.

For a full carrier-and-identity comparison, use the 2D Product Identity Map.

Why dual marking exists

Today, a brand cannot assume every store, lane, scanner and host system can process every compliant retail 2D implementation.

GS1 therefore describes a transition period in which a product can carry its existing linear POS barcode and a new 2D barcode together.

The linear barcode protects the current checkout journey. The 2D barcode lets capable systems begin using richer identity, attributes or links.

GS1's current guideline says products using retail 2D barcodes need the linear barcode alongside them until 90% of POS scanning solutions are capable of using GS1-compliant POS 2D barcodes and at minimum capturing the GTIN.

That threshold is an industry transition condition. It is not an EU legal test and it does not mean your own retailer estate is ready when a global percentage is reached.

Why “my scanner is 2D capable” is not enough

Retail checkout is an end-to-end system.

A successful transition requires more than an imager capable of decoding a square. You need to know what happens after decoding.

Questions include:

• Does the scanner recognise QR Code, Data Matrix and GS1 DataMatrix in the required modes?
• Can scanner software prioritise the right symbol when both linear and 2D marks are present?
• Can the host receive the GTIN in the expected format?
• Can the host consume batch, expiry or serial information if you intend to use it?
• Can existing item files match the GTIN?
• What happens when a code contains a GS1 Digital Link URI?
• Can the system translate the URI into the GS1 data structure the host already expects?

GS1's guideline explicitly discusses scanner software translating GS1 Digital Link URI syntax into GS1 element-string syntax for host POS systems. That is exactly why hardware capability and business-system capability should not be collapsed.

What this has to do with Digital Product Passports

DPPs and Ambition 2027 are not the same programme, but they collide on three practical questions.

1. The physical product has limited artwork space

A DPP may need a data carrier. Retail may already need a linear barcode. Packaging law may also introduce digital information requirements. Adding a new symbol for every obligation is a poor default if one standards-compliant carrier can eventually serve several jobs.

2. Product identity sits underneath both programmes

Retail checkout already depends on product identification. DPP architecture also requires persistent product identity. A business with weak GTIN, variant, batch or serial governance will carry that weakness into both programmes.

3. The carrier can outlive the programme that triggered it

A barcode printed today can remain on a product for years. The decision to encode a durable web-enabled identity can therefore be more important than the project name that paid for the artwork change.

The wider architecture is covered in Can One 2D Barcode Handle Checkout, Packaging Information and a Digital Product Passport?.

Does Ambition 2027 mean your DPP should use a GS1 2D barcode?

Not automatically.

First ask what the applicable product law requires. Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 leaves material carrier detail to product-specific measures. Some product regimes can be more specific than the horizontal framework.

Then ask whether retail POS is actually a use case for that product. A piece of industrial equipment, a textile sold through retail and a regulated battery can have very different scanning journeys.

If retail checkout is important and GS1 is already your commercial identity system, aligning the DPP carrier decision with the 2D retail transition can be a strong low-regret architecture choice. But the reason is interoperability and reuse, not a universal DPP mandate.

What packaging teams should do now

Keep the linear barcode unless the real trading environment supports removal

Do not redesign packaging around a date alone. Follow the applicable GS1 rules and confirm readiness with the retailers and POS providers that will actually scan the product.

Reserve space for the 2D transition

Dual marking has a physical cost. Small labels can be the hardest cases because the product may not have room for both a compliant linear symbol and a compliant 2D symbol at the required size and placement.

Decide what the 2D barcode is for

Do not put a 2D code on-pack “for future use” without an architecture. Define whether it is intended for:

• POS;
• consumer web access;
• batch or expiry capture;
• a DPP;
• packaging information;
• several of those jobs.

Test the actual encoded data

A QR Code containing a marketing URL and a QR Code containing a GS1 Digital Link URI may look similar to a person. They are not the same implementation to downstream systems.

Keep identity clean before printing

Duplicates, bad check digits and wrong variant allocation become expensive when encoded onto physical stock. Fix the identifier layer before the symbol layer.

The canonical identifier owner is Barcodes and Product Identifiers: What You Need.

What retailers should test

A credible retailer readiness test should include more than “can the scanner read QR?”.

Test:

1. each supported 2D carrier type;
2. dual-marked products;
3. symbol prioritisation;
4. GTIN extraction;
5. GS1 Application Identifier parsing where used;
6. GS1 Digital Link URI handling where used;
7. host-system behaviour;
8. failure modes and manual fallback;
9. line speed under real placement conditions;
10. supplier data alignment.

The implementation target is reliable checkout, not a laboratory scan.

How this affects the “one code” ambition

The direction of travel is favourable to one richer 2D carrier doing more work. GS1's retail programme supports richer data and web-enabled information. EU rules in packaging, toys and detergents also include circumstances where one data carrier is used to provide information required under multiple Union-law obligations.

But the transition state matters.

For many retail products, the near-term physical reality can still be:

linear barcode + 2D barcode

rather than:

one 2D barcode and nothing else.

The one-code architecture should therefore be designed as an end state with explicit transition conditions, not treated as today's universal print specification.

What is established, and what is not

What would change this answer

Recheck if:

• GS1 revises the 1.1.0 retail POS implementation guideline;
• GS1 changes the 90% transition condition or recognised POS 2D options;
• a major product-specific EU measure fixes a carrier approach that materially changes the retail/DPP overlap;
• your key retailers publish binding supplier migration requirements that are more specific than the global GS1 guidance.

Last verified 3 September 2026.

Sources and legal basis

• [GS1 2D Barcodes at Retail Point-of-Sale Implementation Guideline 1.1.0](

  View official source

• [GS1 General Specifications 26.0](

  View official source

• [GS1 Digital Link Standard: URI Syntax 1.7.0](

  View official source

• [Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation](

  View official source