By love-89.com During a press conference held on the 17th in Hangzhou, representatives from the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the initiative to upgrade product identification systems in China.
Typically referred to as a product’s “barcode,” this identification system serves as a unique identifier for goods, usually printed on packaging and composed of 13 digits.
With the advancement of digital transformation, public demand for supply chain visibility, product traceability, and consumer safety has surged. Various industries worldwide are focused on enhancing the shopping experience by rapidly and accurately displaying product data. In this context, QR codes have emerged as the preferred solution due to their extensive data capacity. To facilitate this shift, GS1, the international organization in charge of product coding, introduced the “Global QR Code Migration Plan” at the end of 2020. This initiative aims to transition from traditional one-dimensional barcodes to QR codes by the end of 2027, globally enabling scanning and parsing functionalities for product QR codes. The objective is to consolidate all necessary information into a standard QR code, thereby addressing inconsistencies and eliminating the problem of “one product having multiple codes.” This will lead to a unified identification system, ensuring seamless connectivity within supply chain data, reducing logistics costs, and improving overall economic efficiency.
Since the announcement of the QR code migration plan, over 100 countries and regions, including China, have joined in and are actively promoting this transformation, marking a significant acceleration in global QR code adoption.
Leading the charge, China’s National Product Coding Center has successfully issued “second-generation identification codes” to more than 560,000 companies and over 19 million products, positioning the nation at the forefront of this initiative.
Officials from the State Administration for Market Regulation highlighted that the current application of QR codes primarily spans across popular sectors such as retail, food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. The adoption of an internationally unified QR code standard enhances the comprehensiveness, accuracy, and traceability of product data. Notably, provinces such as Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian account for approximately 60% of QR code transitions in the country.
Currently, the total volume of product data collected based on standard coding exceeds 200 million items, covering over 90% of high-demand products. This data serves as a vital resource for government departments, including the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Commerce, and the General Administration of Customs.