diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 1391450..f1c6227 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ package_dir = =src
 include_package_data = true
 zip_safe = false
 install_requires =
+    univers>=30.12.1
 
 [options.packages.find]
 where = src
diff --git a/src/packageurl/__init__.py b/src/packageurl/__init__.py
index d1e6837..d4f242d 100644
--- a/src/packageurl/__init__.py
+++ b/src/packageurl/__init__.py
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@
 
     AnyStr = Union[str, bytes]
 
+from univers.version_range import VersionRange
+
 # Python 3
 basestring = (bytes, str)
 
@@ -223,6 +225,9 @@ def normalize_qualifiers(
         if key[0] in string.digits:
             raise ValueError(f"A qualifier key cannot start with a number: {key!r}")
 
+    if vers := qualifiers_map.get("vers"):
+        VersionRange.from_string(vers, validate=True)
+
     qualifiers_map = dict(sorted(qualifiers_map.items()))
 
     if not encode:
diff --git a/tests/test_packageurl.py b/tests/test_packageurl.py
index 2c36549..1a860db 100644
--- a/tests/test_packageurl.py
+++ b/tests/test_packageurl.py
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 import re
 import unittest
 
+import pytest
+
 from packageurl import PackageURL
 from packageurl import normalize
 from packageurl import normalize_qualifiers
@@ -376,6 +378,16 @@ def test_encoding_stuff_with_colons_correctly() -> None:
     )
 
 
+def test_vers_validation_ok():
+    url = PackageURL.from_string("pkg:pypi/requests?vers=vers:pypi/>=2.0")
+    assert url.qualifiers["vers"] == "vers:pypi/>=2.0"
+
+
+def test_vers_validation_fails():
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="must start with the 'vers:' URI scheme."):
+        PackageURL.from_string("pkg:pypi/requests?vers=>=2.0")
+
+
 def test_no_encoding_to_string():
     p = PackageURL(
         type="nuget",