QR codes and the Legal Metrology rules in India

What do the rules allow?

The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 list what a retail package must declare, mainly in Rule 6. Two separate permissions mention QR codes, and they are often mixed up:

• For every product: a QR code in addition. Rule 6(4A), added with effect from 1 January 2018, says nothing in the rule stops a manufacturer, packer or importer declaring a barcode, GTIN or QR code on the package, in addition to the mandatory declarations.
• For electronic products only: a QR code instead. Provisos to Rule 6(1) and 6(2) let some declarations be made through a QR code and not on the package itself, as long as the package tells the consumer to scan for them.

So a garment or a pack of bearings may carry a code that opens a guide, but all of its declarations still go on the pack. The second permission is narrower than most summaries suggest.

Which declarations can go behind the code?

The table below follows Rule 6 as amended. “Stays on the pack” means the QR provisos don’t cover that declaration.

How did the rule change?

Secondary articles disagree mostly because they stop at different points in this list.

Did anything change in 2026?

Yes, but not for QR codes. We read all four 2026 amendments to these Rules on the department’s site. None of them mentions QR codes or changes the provisos above. The fourth, dated 21 September 2026, was the latest listed on 30 October 2026.

What counts as an electronic product?

We can’t tell you. The notifications we read use the words “electronic product” without defining them, and we did not find a definition in the 2011 Rules. A phone or a router is the easy case. A ceiling fan, a mixer grinder or a washing machine is not obvious, so don’t assume. Ask your Legal Metrology consultant in writing before dropping a declaration from the pack.

Also check whether the Chapter applies at all. Rule 3, as substituted in 2017, leaves out packages of more than 25 kg or 25 litres, cement, fertiliser and farm produce in bags above 50 kg, and commodities meant for industrial or institutional consumers. Large appliances and factory machinery may raise that question, and it needs a specific answer for your product.

Does any of this apply to a manual QR code?

Mostly no. A user manual, a setup video or a warranty form is not one of the Rule 6 declarations. A code that opens them is a code “in addition” under Rule 6(4A), so the QR provisos don’t limit it. Your other declarations stay where they are.

• Stickers. Rule 6(3) in the 2011 text doesn’t allow individual stickers for altering or making a required declaration, apart from reducing the MRP, while Rule 6(4) allows them for other declarations. Rule 6(9) separately lets imported packages carry a label for declarations. We found no later amendment changing 6(3) or 6(4). A sticker with a manual QR code on existing stock reads as a non-mandatory declaration, but confirm it with your consultant.
• If you do use the provisos, the page behind the code is then carrying a legal declaration. Keep the address, generic name and dimensions on it in plain view, keep the page live for as long as those packs can be sold, and don’t let an edit remove them. In ItemDocs, an archived product shows only a short support page, so it isn’t suitable for declarations. ItemDocs has no dedicated declarations module, and it can’t tell you whether a page meets the rule.
• BIS marks. The Standard Mark and licence details follow BIS rules, separately from these provisos. BIS’s own BIS Care app lets people check an ISI licence, or the R-number for electronic products under the Compulsory Registration Scheme. Your QR code doesn’t replace that route.

For the customer-help side, see ItemDocs for Indian brands and QR codes for product manuals. For how large to print the code, see QR size and placement.

What we could not confirm

• Whether a specific product, such as a fan or an appliance, is an “electronic product” for these provisos.
• How state Legal Metrology offices apply the provisos in inspections. We read the rules, not enforcement practice.
• Whether a departmental advisory or FAQ, as opposed to a Gazette notification, adds to this. We read the notifications listed above, not every advisory.
• BEE star-label QR requirements. We could not open a current BEE notification, so this guide says nothing about them. Check with BEE or your consultant.