France's AGEC Product Sheet: Where the QR Code Fits

Article 13 of France's AGEC anti-waste law does not require a QR code. It requires a free digital product sheet, available at the moment of purchase on a dedicated web page, for every model of new product sold to consumers, once the producer exceeds €10 million in turnover and 10,000 units a year. The code is what makes that page reachable from the shop shelf.

The implementing text is decree no. 2022-748 of 29 April 2022, codified in articles R. 541-228 and R. 541-229 of the French Environment Code, and the ministry in charge of the environment updated its official FAQ in November 2025. Everything below relies on those two documents.

Who has to publish a sheet, and since when?

Producers and importers placing waste-generating products on the French market above two cumulative thresholds: annual turnover and the number of units sold per year. The thresholds came down in three steps.

Both thresholds are counted across all products concerned, every product stream combined. The FAQ excludes from the 2023 timetable the products listed under points 4° and 12° to 15° of article L. 541-10-1.

Three points in the FAQ often change the answer:

• The producer is whoever makes or has the product designed and sells it under their own name or brand. A retailer that has goods made under its own label becomes the producer for those references, and publishing the sheet is its job.
• Only new products intended for consumers are covered. Business-to-business sales are out of scope, as are refurbished or second-hand products sold by professionals.
• Stock counts. Every unit of a model offered for sale to consumers since 1 January 2023 is covered, including units that were sitting in a warehouse.

What does the sheet have to contain?

The sheet gives the environmental qualities and characteristics set for the product's category, using prescribed wording. Not all of them apply to every product: the summary table annexed to the FAQ maps them.

• Recycled content, worded as "product containing at least X% recycled material". Ranges such as "30 to 80%" are not allowed.
• Use of renewable resources.
• Recyclability, against five criteria running from effective collection across the country to the existence of an industrial recycling stream.
• Reuse potential, with the wording "reusable packaging" or "refillable packaging".
• Compostability, in practice limited to collection bags eligible for biowaste collection.
• Hazardous substances above 0.1% by mass, information that can also be provided through the Scan4Chem app.
• Precious metals and rare earths, given by mass once they exceed 1 milligram.
• Traceability, for textiles and footwear only: the countries of weaving, dyeing, printing and making up, or of stitching, assembly and finishing.

Two drafting rules catch people out. "Information not available" is never a valid answer. And when a product is sold in primary packaging, the sheet has two separate parts, one for the packaging and one for the product.

In what form must the sheet be published?

On a website or a dedicated web page, free of charge, in a format that automated processing can reuse. The FAQ is explicit: a non-selectable PDF does not comply.

The title is prescribed. The page, or the section of a page, is headed "Fiche produit relative aux qualités ou caractéristiques environnementales" (product sheet on environmental qualities or characteristics), followed by the model's name and reference. No template is imposed beyond that. There is one sheet per model, and one per colour reference when the characteristics differ between colours. When information changes, the sheet is updated as quickly as possible and shows the date of the update.

One sentence in the FAQ explains where the code comes in: the information does not have to be visible in the physical shop, but it must be easy to reach on the producer's website at the moment the consumer buys. In a shop, that moment happens in front of a shelf, phone in hand, and a printed code saves the three searches it would take to find the right page.

Where should the code go, and what should it point to?

The most useful place is the product's packaging or label, failing that the shelf label, and the code always points to the exact model's sheet, never to a homepage or a general sustainability page.

"One sheet per model" translates naturally into "one code per reference". Two set-ups work:

1. One code per reference pointing to its sheet. Simple and easy to audit. With a dynamic code, the destination stays editable after printing, which protects packaging already produced when the website is rebuilt or the platform changes.
2. A GS1 Digital Link code, which encodes the product's GTIN in a web address and can serve the environmental sheet and other information from a single symbol. Our article on GS1 Digital Link QR codes covers this option, which makes sense if you already get your barcodes through GS1 France.

On the packaging itself, the design rules for codes on packaging apply as for any other code: minimum size, contrast, a clear margin around the symbol, and a line of text saying what the scan opens, for example "Product environmental sheet".

What should you not write next to the code?

The claims "biodegradable" and "environmentally friendly", and their equivalents, have been banned on products and packaging placed on the French market since 1 January 2023, whether or not the product needs a sheet.

The FAQ refers to the 2023 edition of the environmental claims guide from France's Conseil national de la consommation, which counts "eco-responsible", "ecological", "planet-friendly" and "good for the climate" among the equivalents. The trap is concrete: the call to action printed next to the code, something like "Scan to discover our eco-responsible approach", is itself a claim printed on the packaging. Neutral, factual wording avoids the problem.

What checks and penalties apply?

DGCCRF officers, France's consumer protection authority, enforce these obligations. A breach of article L. 541-9-1 carries an administrative fine of up to €3,000 for an individual and up to €15,000 for a company, under article L. 541-9-4-1 of the Environment Code.

The misleading commercial practices regime applies on top when environmental information misleads. The FAQ notes that since 2021 the fine can then reach 10% of average annual turnover or 80% of the spending on the practice in question. A false sheet can therefore cost more than a missing one.

How do you roll out codes reference by reference?

The work looks more like a data project than a design project. Plan one full pass per collection or range.

1. List the models concerned, separating colour variants whose characteristics differ.
2. Give each sheet a stable address, with the regulatory title and the model reference on the page.
3. Publish the sheet as text, a web page or structured data, never an image or a scanned PDF.
4. Generate the codes from a spreadsheet that pairs each reference with its address. Our bulk QR code generator takes a list or a CSV file, and the guide to CSV workflows explains how to check the pairing row by row.
5. Print the address in plain text under the code, small, for the customer who does not scan.
6. Plan for updates: who edits the sheet when a supplier changes, and who checks that the update date appears.

The AGEC law also reaches the point of sale through another article, the one that ended systematic printing of till receipts, which we cover in our article on digital receipts.

Frequently asked questions

Does a retailer have to publish sheets for the brands it sells?

No, the obligation falls on whoever places the product on the market, except for products sold under the retailer's own label. The FAQ does encourage sellers to repeat the sheet on their own site, in the same format.

Can the sheet be a section of the e-commerce product page?

Yes. The FAQ refers to "the site, the page or the section of the dedicated page", provided that section carries the regulatory title and the model's name and reference. The code can then point straight at that section's anchor.

Does the repairability index belong on the sheet?

No, the repairability index and the durability index have their own rules and are displayed next to the price. Nothing prevents you from repeating them on the sheet voluntarily.