Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs released a draft for public comment on the specifications for the production and use of pesticide label QR codes, signaling a new, more refined and intelligent stage in China's pesticide traceability management. The new regulations, with their 32-digit code for "one product, one code," emphasize the correlation between inner and outer packaging and the comprehensive coverage of technical/active ingredient information. The goal is to build a tightly linked, fully traceable pesticide regulatory system, safeguarding the quality and safety of agricultural products and promoting sustainable agricultural development.

One of the core highlights of the new regulations is the clarification that the unit identification code must consist of at least 32 Arabic numerals. This unique "ID number" is not randomly generated but contains rich product information:

Registration Category Code (1st digit): Clearly distinguishes between different registered types of pesticide products.

Last Six Digits of Registration Certificate Number (2nd-7th digits): Closely linked to the pesticide registration certificate, ensuring the legality of the product's identity.

Production Type (8th digit): Specifies whether it is produced by the registration certificate holder, outsourced for processing, or outsourced for sub-packaging, revealing the product's origin.

Product Specification Code (9th-11th digits): Compiled by the enterprise itself, enabling refined management of different specifications for the same product.

Random Code (12th-32nd digits): Ensures that each sales packaging unit has a unique identification, fundamentally eliminating the breeding ground for counterfeit and inferior products.

Through these 32 digits, the entire lifecycle information of a pesticide product is digitally affixed to each smallest sales package, laying a solid foundation for precise traceability.

Moreover, the new regulations impose higher requirements for the uniqueness of label QR codes, emphasizing that "one label QR code corresponds to exactly one sales packaging unit." More importantly, it clarifies that the QR codes on the inner and outer packaging should be correlated, meaning that scanning the outer packaging QR code can identify the unit identification code information of the inner packaging QR code. This provision effectively avoids previous issues such as repeated scanning and information disconnects, truly extending the traceability chain to every smallest package and tightening every link in the traceability network.

At the same time, a major breakthrough in the new regulations is the addition of traceability requirements for technical (active) ingredient information. Previously, pesticide formulation labels might not have indicated the technical ingredient used, leading to gaps in the traceability chain. The new regulations require that by scanning the QR code, not only should information such as the pesticide name and the name of the registration certificate holder be displayed, but if the pesticide formulation label does not indicate the technical (active) ingredient used, it should also be able to display the technical (active) ingredient registration certificate number and the name of the producing enterprise. This measure strengthens the regulation of pesticide products from the source, ensuring that every link from technical ingredient production to formulation circulation is clear and traceable, greatly enhancing the transparency and safety of pesticide products.

Another core highlight of the new regulations is the shift in the primary responsibility for traceability from "pesticide production enterprises" to "registration certificate holders." This adjustment is more in line with the current situation where pesticide registration and production are separate, clarifying the primary responsibility of pesticide registration certificate holders in pesticide product traceability management. This will effectively promote enterprises to establish and improve traceability systems, ensuring the authenticity and completeness of traceability information.

The draft for public comment on the pesticide label QR code management regulations, along with the "Requirements for Pesticide Labels and Instructions" (Announcement No. 925) issued in July 2025, forms a complete supporting system, jointly committed to promoting the transparency and standardization of pesticide label information. In the long run, a unified QR code format will lay a solid foundation for the construction of agricultural big data platforms, helping to build a smart agriculture system. Through big data analysis, regulatory authorities can more accurately grasp the production, circulation, and use of pesticides, providing strong support for agricultural product quality and safety supervision, pesticide reduction and efficiency improvement actions, and national strategies such as cultivated land protection.

In summary, the introduction of the new pesticide label QR code regulations is not only an improvement and upgrade to the pesticide management system but also an important manifestation of China's agricultural transformation towards high-quality and green development. It will build a solid defense line for agricultural product quality and safety with refined "one product, one code" management, allowing consumers to eat with confidence and making agricultural development more resilient.