Your e-mail address stays the same when you change your mail provider. Nobody prints new business cards for that. The QR code on a battery casing should work the same way: it is lasered once, stays on the product for ten years and still has to lead to the right passport when you changed provider long ago.
The question sounds technical but is strategic: which web address does the QR code on your product carry? The answer ties you, or not, to a provider over the entire product lifetime. This article shows the three answers there are, why only one of them survives a change of provider and what to ask a provider.
Three answers you regularly see in DPP projects:
- A short link
qr.anbieter.com/a7f2-xy9. No meaningful structure, dead when you change provider. - Your own domain
dpp.example.com/p/123456. Better, but the structure behind it is still the provider’s. - A GS1 Digital Link
https://id.example.com/01/04012345678901. A standard with a fixed structure, built on the GTIN, readable by any system.
Only the third route lets you change provider without reprinting the QR code. The reason:
What GS1 Digital Link is
GS1 Digital Link is a standard that has been stable since 2018 and was ratified as ISO/IEC 18975 in 2024. It defines how a web link carries product identifiers - typically the GTIN, that is, the long-familiar barcode number block - in a standardised URL structure.
Example:
https://id.example.com/01/04012345678901/10/LOT-2026-03
-
01/04012345678901- the GTIN (GS1 identifier01) -
10/LOT-2026-03- batch number (GS1 identifier10)
These identifiers (application identifiers at GS1) are the same ones that have appeared in the barcodes on Euro pallets for decades. The only thing new is that they now fit into a web address.
Why redirect services are a problem
A short link qr.anbieter.com/a7f2 works as long as the provider exists and keeps the service running. That sounds trivial but it is not:
- the provider discontinues the service or is acquired
- you want to switch to a different DPP provider
- the provider raises prices and you have no bargaining power (because your codes are already printed)
For DPP-relevant products one has to assume lifecycles of 10 years and more. In that time a lot changes in the IT world. The QR code on the product does not change - it was lasered into a battery casing.
The trick: identifier and resolver kept apart
GS1 Digital Link separates the identifier (the GTIN) from the resolver, the place on the web that answers the scanned code and leads to the passport.
As long as both stay in the same structure, you can switch the resolver without reprinting the code.
Concretely:
- the QR code points to
https://id.example.com/01/04012345678901 -
id.example.comis yours; an entry at your domain sets where that name points - today it points to your current DPP provider
- in three years you can move it to another one, and the QR code does not change
This is exactly what e-mail has done for 40 years: max@firma.de works regardless of whether you use Exchange, Google Workspace or IONOS to run your mail.
One QR code, several views
A GS1 Digital Link can deliver a different view depending on who calls it up. GS1 defines fixed views (link types) for different audiences:
-
gs1:pip- Product Information Page for end consumers -
gs1:dpp- the Digital Product Passport -
gs1:safetyInfo- safety information -
gs1:productSustainabilityInfo- sustainability and circular-economy data
The resolver delivers the view the caller asks for. For you this means: one printed code, many user groups. The DPP for end consumers and the data set for the recycling operation are reachable under the same URL.
GTIN alternatives for products without a trade identifier
Not every product has a GTIN. Industrial plant, bespoke manufactures, bulk goods such as cement, construction products with an individual batch identifier. GS1 defines further identifiers for this:
-
8004- GIAI, Global Individual Asset Identifier -
01 + 21- GTIN plus serial number (individualised) -
253- Global Document Type Identifier for documents
For genuinely non-GS1 products there is the route via an address structure of your own that you document yourself, as long as it stays stable.
What you should concretely check
If you are currently evaluating a DPP provider:
- Does the provider generate GS1 Digital Links on a domain that you control?
- Can the provider respect your own GS1 prefix management, or does it roll out its own numbering logic?
- Which views are supported?
- Can you export your entire data inventory - as CSV, XLSX, JSON-LD and SQL or via a REST API?
- How does the provider hand over to a different resolver?
The last question is the litmus test.
If a provider answers it with “that is not foreseen”, you tie yourself to its platform for the lifetime of the product.
Questions on this article
Do we need a GTIN for a product passport?
No. The Batteries Regulation asks for a unique identifier under the ISO/IEC 15459 series (Art. 77(3)), not for a particular numbering scheme. With a GTIN the identifier becomes a GS1 Digital Link that other systems resolve too; without one, GS1 defines further application identifiers such as 8004 for an individual asset, and a documented URI in your own namespace remains a viable route. In Transpareo the passport carries a unique identifier either way, and the QR code leads to it just the same.
Is GS1 Digital Link legally required?
No. The harmonised standards on identifiers and data carriers (EN 18219 and EN 18220) are cited in Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 and carry the presumption of conformity, but a standard is a route and not a duty - you may demonstrate conformity another way. The reason to pick the Digital Link is not the law, it is the printed code that stays on the product for ten years. Only a structured, provider-neutral identifier lets you change platform without reprinting the code. More on that in standard by standard.
What has to sit on our own domain?
One DNS record. The QR code points at something like id.example.com plus the identifier, that host is yours, and today it points at the platform that resolves it. Moving later is a DNS change, not a reprint. Ask your provider explicitly whether it issues Digital Links on your domain or on its own - the answer decides whether the decoupling exists at all.
We have already printed short links. What now?
Printed codes are the one thing you can no longer correct. Treat the existing run as a legacy set and change the scheme for the next production batch. Where the short link resolves through a host you control, you keep both alive by pointing that host at the new resolver. Where it resolves through a provider domain, the old codes stay dependent on that provider for as long as the products live - for DPP-relevant goods, ten years and more.
Does one code really serve different views to different readers?
Yes, and the mechanism is ordinary web content negotiation. GS1 defines link types for the audiences - a product information page for consumers, safety and sustainability information, the digital product passport itself - and the resolver returns the matching resource for the linkType parameter or the Accept header, and the list of every link for linkType=all. Who may see the deeper tiers is decided by the regulation; enforcing it is the platform’s job, not the QR code’s. In Transpareo visibility is a property of every field - the public tier answers without any login, protected fields appear only to authorised readers.
Can a batch or serial number sit in the same code?
Yes. The application identifiers of the Digital Link are the same ones that have been in GS1 barcodes for decades - the batch number sits behind 10, the serial number behind 21, each after the GTIN in the same URL. That matters for the register, which asks for the passport at the granularity level the sector act prescribes and has the identifiers above it carried along. If you print at item level, decide the structure before the first production run - it is a printing decision, not a software question.
How do we test a provider for lock-in?
With four questions. Does it issue Digital Links on a domain you control; does it respect your own GS1 prefix management; which link types does it support; and do you get your entire inventory back out as CSV, XLSX, JSON-LD and SQL or through a REST API. The last one is the litmus test, and “that is not foreseen” is a complete answer to it. Transpareo answers yes to all four, and the rest of the questions to put to a provider are in our provider checklist.
