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GS1 QR code vs. a regular QR code: what changes

A GS1 QR code is a regular QR code whose web address follows a strict rule: it contains the product number (GTIN) from your barcode. A phone opens your product page, and a 2D-ready checkout reads the number without going online.

Updated 22 September 2026 · 8-minute read

Two codes that look alike

You can't tell them apart by eye. The difference is the address inside: scan one, and if the link contains /01/ followed by 14 digits, it's a GS1 QR code.

A marketing QR code points to a homepage, a short link or a campaign. It carries no product number, so a checkout gets nothing from it: GS1 Canada notes that brands using a QR code for consumers must also keep a second barcode, such as a UPC-A, for point of sale. A GS1 QR code carries the same GTIN as your barcode. It identifies the product and it opens a page.

What's in the address

https://id.yourbrand.ca/01/09506000134352

• id.yourbrand.ca: your domain, with a subdomain set aside for codes. GS1 suggests "id", but any name works.
• /01/: the GS1 marker that says a GTIN follows.
• 09506000134352: the GTIN, always 14 digits. A 12-digit UPC gets two leading zeros; GS1 Canada's example turns 068780000108 into 00068780000108.

You can add, in this order, a batch or lot number (/10/) and then a serial number (/21/). An expiry date (17, written YYMMDD) goes after a question mark. Here, lot L0925, expiring 31 December 2026:

https://id.yourbrand.ca/01/09506000134352/10/L0925?17=261231

Lots and dates change with every production run, so a code that carries them has to be printed on the production line, as GS1 Canada points out. Every extra character also makes the code bigger. The GTIN alone is enough to start, and retailers can't require the rest: GS1 Canada says that choice belongs to the brand owner.

One code, two readers

A checkout doesn't treat this code as a link. Its scanner pulls out the GTIN and passes it to the till without going online. A phone opens it like any other link, straight from the camera.

In practice, Quebec grocery checkouts don't read 2D codes yet, and GS1 Canada says many retailers are still running readiness assessments. Ambition 2027 (also called Sunrise 2027) is the retailers' goal: checkouts that can read these codes by the end of 2027. It isn't a deadline for brands. Our Sunrise 2027 guide covers it in detail.

Your barcode stays. GS1 Canada says UPC-A barcodes are not going away. For now, the GS1 QR code mostly serves phones. Placed near the barcode and sized to GS1's values, it has the best chance of working as is if Quebec checkouts start reading 2D codes, though each retailer may still set its own requirements.

Why use your own domain

A checkout only reads what follows /01/, so any domain is conformant. GS1 still recommends a domain the brand owns and controls: people recognize your name in the link, and if the brand is sold, the domain goes with it and printed codes keep working without a reprint.

GS1 also recommends a subdomain reserved for codes, like id.yourbrand.ca, so a website redesign is much less likely to break them.

What to avoid: a code on a QR generator's domain. Every printed pack then depends on someone else's subscription.

Who handles the redirect: resolvers

GS1 says the printed address shouldn't be the URL of a web page. It identifies the product, and a redirect takes people to the page. The server that does this is called a resolver.

A simple redirect on your domain

id.yourbrand.ca/01/your-GTIN forwards to the product page. Any website administrator can set this up. Our demo works this way: open or scan it, and it lands on the page of a fictional product.

GS1's global resolver

id.gs1.org is free for the public. Its terms say links are provided to GS1 or its national member organisations by the company or its authorised designees, and that GS1 doesn't guarantee it will be available continuously. It also means the printed address carries GS1's domain, not yours.

A GS1-conformant resolver

The GS1-Conformant Resolver standard (release 1.2.1, August 2026) describes a full resolver. It picks the page by the phone's language or by the type of information requested (allergens, recall status), and it returns an error rather than a fake page when a product is unknown. GS1 offers resolver software under the open Apache 2.0 licence. For a small brand, a simple redirect is enough to start, and it can grow later without touching the package.

What the page can hold

GS1 advises linking to information about that specific item, not to a homepage or a social media feed. The page holds what the label already says (ingredients, allergens, nutrition facts), what the label has no room for (storage, recipes, certifications, where to buy) and whatever changes: a promotion, a new size, a recall notice.

The redirect can be changed at any time without touching the package. GS1's example is a limited-time promotion, after which the link goes back to the usual product page.

The CFIA treats any representation that promotes a food as advertising, internet included. Nutrition or health claims on the page follow the food advertising rules.

What stays on the label

Mandatory information on a prepackaged food label must appear in both English and French, with a few exemptions. GS1 Canada is clear that adding a 2D code doesn't let you remove regulatory information from the package. The page adds to the label. It doesn't replace it.

French on the page in Quebec

Section 52 of Quebec's Charter of the French language requires catalogues, brochures, folders and other documents of the same nature available to the public to be in French, "regardless of the medium used". Another language is allowed only if the French version is available on terms at least as favourable. The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) applies this section to commercial content on websites: in January 2025, a Montreal company was convicted a second time over a website offered only in a language other than French.

The law doesn't mention QR codes, but the practical answer is simple. Print one code, not one per language. Make the French page at least as easy to reach as the English one; we set French as the default and keep English one tap away. A conformant resolver can also pick the version from the phone's language.

If you're an English-speaking brand elsewhere in Canada and your products sell in Quebec, have the French page ready from day one.

Placement on the pack

The QR code goes alongside your barcode. It doesn't replace it.

Where to put it

If you want a checkout to read it one day, keep it close to the barcode. According to GS1, independent testing showed the 2D code needs to be within 50 mm of the linear barcode's centre for checkouts to keep their pace of 40 to 70 items a minute.

If it's only for phones, it can go on the front or a side panel. GS1 warns against the in-between: on the same panel as the barcode but in a different corner, both codes can be read together and trigger an unintended transaction.

Next to a barcode that already shows its digits, the QR code doesn't need its own. A 2D code that is the only barcode on the pack must show the 14-digit GTIN in plain text.

Quiet zone, size and colour

A QR code needs an empty margin four modules wide (4X) on all four sides, compared with one module for a GS1 DataMatrix. With a 0.495 mm module, that's 1.98 mm of clear space all round, with no text, pattern or fold inside it.

Use dark modules on a light background, ideally black on white. Checkout scanners light the code with red light (660 nm), so a red, orange or yellow code becomes hard or impossible to read. Avoid gradients too. Logos and custom shapes should be avoided on a code meant for checkout; if you want one anyway, each modified code has to be verified against ISO/IEC 15415. And the shorter the address, the smaller the code.

Checklist before printing

1. The right GTIN, from this exact item's barcode, written as 14 digits. See our barcodes and GTIN guide.
2. Your domain (ideally an id. subdomain), then /01/ and the GTIN, with nothing extra.
3. A lot or date only if the code is printed on the production line.
4. The address checked with the GS1 Barcode Syntax Resource (GS1's old generator is deprecated).
5. The redirect tested on an iPhone and an Android phone: it lands on this product's page, not the homepage.
6. The page in French and English, with French at least as easy to reach as English (we default to French), and data identical to the label.
7. The code within 50 mm of the barcode's centre if it's meant for checkout; otherwise on another panel.
8. The 4X quiet zone clear on all four sides.
9. Dark modules on a light background, no red, and a module between 0.396 and 0.990 mm.
10. A printed proof verified before the run. GS1 Canada's Barcode Scan Verification doesn't list QR Code among the symbols it tests, so plan for a verifier that grades 2D codes.
11. All mandatory information still on the label, in both languages.