- In August 2025, the Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg asked the European Court of Justice if digital QR codes can count as receipts instead of paper.
- A grocery store offered customers a choice between paper receipts and QR codes at weighing scales.
- The Lower Saxony State Office for Metrology claimed this violated the law, insisting only paper receipts are valid.
- The store appealed, but the Administrative Court ruled that paper receipts were mandatory.
- The Measuring and Verification Ordinance and the EU Measuring Instruments Directive require receipts to be printed, clear, legible, and permanent, traditionally understood as paper.
- The Higher Administrative Court sees potential for a broader interpretation.
- EU standards describe printers as one example of electronic devices and aim to be technology-neutral.
- The rule’s main purpose is customer protection, ensuring receipts make transactions transparent and verifiable over time.
- The ECJ will decide if digital receipts like QR codes can replace paper receipts under EU law.
Source: fiscal-requirements.com
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
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