DPP Guide — Data Carriers
DPP QR Code Guide for Garment Factories
For garments, a DPP QR code is often a GS1 Digital Link — a QR that encodes your product’s GTIN inside a permanent URL and resolves to the passport. ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) lets the carrier sit on the product, its packaging or accompanying documents (Article 10(1)(b)), but asks for the product itself where possible (recital 37) — for garments, the permanent care label, not the hangtag or polybag. This guide covers the identifiers, the format, the label placement, and the print specs.
Written by the DPPLive Team · Last updated: 19 October 2026
Step 01
Get your identifiers in order
Every DPP QR code rests on identifiers set by ESPR Articles 10(1)(a) and 12 (with Annex III): the GTIN (GS1-issued product number — issued by your national GS1 member organisation, e.g. GS1 Bangladesh, GS1 Vietnam or GS1 India), the UPID (Unique Product Identifier for the model), your factory’s EOID (Economic Operator ID), and the Facility ID for the production site. DPPLive generates UPID/EOID/Facility ID automatically and links them to your GTIN.
Step 02
Encode a GS1 Digital Link — not a plain URL
ESPR requires open, interoperable data carriers. The industry answer is GS1 Digital Link: the GTIN is embedded in the URL path, e.g.
https://dpplive.com/01/5901234123457/dpp. Any phone camera opens the passport; any GS1-aware system (customs, warehouse scanners, recycler lines) can parse the GTIN out of the same code. One code serves consumers and machines.Step 03
Put it on the care label — not the hangtag
ESPR prefers the data carrier on the product itself where possible (recital 37). Article 10(1)(b) also allows packaging or accompanying documents, and the textile delegated act will settle it. Hangtags are cut off in the fitting room; polybags are discarded at the DC. For garments that means the QR is woven or printed on the permanent care label, next to the ISO 3758 wash symbols. Position it on the lower half of the label so seam stitching never crosses the code.
Step 04
Print to scannable, wash-proof specs
Target ≥15×15 mm print size on woven labels, dark-on-light with a 4-module quiet zone, and verify against ISO/IEC 15415 print-quality grading. Run a 5-wash test before bulk production. Thermal-transfer on satin and woven jacquard both pass when the module size stays above 0.33 mm.
Identifier Cheat-Sheet
GTIN vs UPID vs EOID — Which Does What
GTIN
The trade item number
GS1-issued 13/14-digit number identifying the sellable item — the same number used in retail barcodes and EDI orders. Issued by your national GS1 member organisation — GS1 Bangladesh, GS1 Vietnam, GS1 India and 110+ others worldwide. The GTIN is what goes inside the QR code’s URL path.
Get it from GS1
UPID
The passport’s fingerprint
The Unique Product Identifier names one DPP record for one product model. Where GTIN identifies what is sold, UPID identifies the passport document itself, and is what the EU Central Registry has stored since 20 July 2026.
Generated by your DPP platform
EOID + Facility ID
Who made it, and where
The Economic Operator ID identifies your company to the Registry; the Facility ID pins the production site. Both are identifier types the delegated act can require (ESPR Article 12 and Annex III), and both stay constant across all your products.
One-time setup
QR & Data Carrier FAQ
Quick Answers
Can I use a normal QR generator for a DPP QR code?
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No. A DPP data carrier must link to a persistent unique product identifier that follows ISO/IEC 15459 or an equivalent standard (ESPR Article 10(1)(a) and (c)) — for garments usually a GS1 Digital Link URL built on the GTIN — and keep resolving to the live passport for as long as the passport must stay available. Free QR generators produce static links with no identifier structure, no resolver, and no permanence guarantee, so they do not meet those requirements.
Does every size and colour need its own QR code?
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Each product model (style + colourway) gets its own DPP and QR code under the expected model-level granularity for textiles. Sizes of the same style/colour normally share one DPP. Batch- or item-level codes are only required where the Delegated Act demands finer granularity.
What happens when someone scans the QR code?
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The GS1 Digital Link URL (format:
https://dpplive.com/01/{GTIN}) resolves to the public passport view: fibre composition, carbon footprint, chemical declarations per REACH Article 33, care instructions, and recycling guidance. Consumers, EU buyers, customs officers, and recyclers each see the data tier relevant to them.How small can the QR code be printed on a care label?
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Follow GS1 guidance: minimum module size around 0.33 mm with a quiet zone of 4 modules, which in practice means roughly 15×15 mm on woven care labels. Test-scan after 5 domestic wash cycles — the code must remain readable for the garment's usable life (ESPR durability expectation for data carriers).
Keep Reading
Related Guides
The six standards behind identifiers, QR carriers and APIs.
The QR is only the carrier — what actually makes a passport.
Step-by-step: how a DPP reaches the EU Central Registry (live since 20 July 2026), and who is responsible.
24 factory questions answered — penalties, deadlines, data ownership, chemicals, cost.
Scan a working example — see exactly what an EU buyer sees when your QR is scanned.
Which granularity your identifiers must support — and how to build once for any outcome.