GS1 Digital Link makes it possible to do a broad range of important functions and capabilities. Our earlier article covers some of these. New applications continue to be discovered. We’ve come a long way since the launch of UPC in 1974, and yet, in many ways  Digital Link does the same thing, but just a lot more of it.

That “…a lot more of it…” makes the difference, and it’s considerable from the verification standpoint. As a barcode quality and compliance test lab, we have primarily focused on the print quality and data structure of the barcode, whether it be a humble GTIN12 UPC on a consumer product or a more complex UDI DataMatrix code on a medical device or drug.

Print quality and data structure make or break the functionality of the barcode. Marketplace chargebacks or an FDA recall are sufficient evidence of the importance of barcode quality. Digital Link broadens the scope of barcode applicability, and that broadens the impact of poor quality.

Digital Link most closely resembles UDI barcodes. Similar to a UDI on a medical device or pharmaceutical, a GS1 Digital Link symbol encodes URI’s  in a data string. But the GS1 Digital Link symbol goes beyond the healthcare barcode, and also includes a URL.  This brings a new level of quality concern, an additional error-opportunity, and a challenge to barcode test labs like ours. A Digital Link barcode that scans perfectly can still fail. We can check that it points to a URL, but there are limits on what that proves. Here’s what is possible:

• Look up and confirm the URL domain exists
• Look up and display the domain pages and images
• All of the above in report form

Unless the client specifies where the URL is supposed to land, the test lab wouldn’t know if it landed in the right place—it can only tell if it landed somewhere or nowhere. At the end of the day, that’s not significantly different than validating a UPC symbol, which test labs generally do not do:

• The UPC (GTIN-12) earned an acceptable ISO print quality grad
• It has valid Application Identifiers for Lot or batch and expiration date

…but cannot confirm that those Application Identifiers are correct for that product, or even that the GTIN represents the correct product in that package.

Is this a significant problem?  It’s a monumental problem, but it very rarely happens. We have seen it twice in our history as a test lab. Infrequency doesn’t disqualify it as an important test attribute. The two times we’ve seen it, the damage it caused was significant.

Comment and Request

Already there has been downplay of verifying GS1 Digital Link barcodes.

Here are a few we’ve heard:

• 2D symbologies like QR Code are immune to quality problems and don’t need to be verified.
• GS1Digital Link is meant to be scanned with a smartphone, so it makes sense to test them with a smartphone. A verifier is a needless expense.
• We’ve never had a problem and the new scanners can read anything. Nobody is complaining, so why spend the time and money on a verifier?

What do you think? Should test labs confirm that the GS1 Digital Link points to an actual website, and furthermore to a specific website? Or is that the client’s responsibility?

Your input is always welcome. Contact us here.