The Indian state of Rajasthan is implementing holographic tax stamps and an end-to-end traceability system on liquor products, to allow the state excise department to track and trace each bottle and case of liquor.

From 6 May, the Mozambique Tax Authority will enter a new phase of combating excise tax evasion with the introduction of a direct digital marking system on beer and ready-to-drink beverages.

De La Rue has signed a contract with the Oman Tax Authority to implement a tax stamp and digital traceability solution for excisable goods.

Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has reported 11% higher tax revenues from the sugar sector, following the expansion of its tax stamp and track and trace system in November last year (the system was initially launched on domestically produced tobacco products earlier in 2021).

OpSec Security, together with technology partner Scopsis SAL, has announced a new partnership with Régie Libanaise des Tabacs et Tombacs (Régie Libanaise) to combat the illicit tobacco trade in Lebanon.

The purpose of this article is to outline the reasons we should look at the technologies being deployed for recycling as a potential opportunity. We will look at three technologies in various states of development and set them in context of our industry.

A number of new tax stamp launches have been reported recently in the media. On 1 January 2022, Bulgaria will introduce new stamps on tobacco products, with stamps for bottled alcohol beverages following three months later.

Bahrain’s National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) and the General Tax Authority (GTA) of Qatar have recently announced the signature of new contracts with De La Rue for the provision of national digital tax stamp and traceability programmes on a number of excise goods.

Nepal has been using excise stamps (hereinafter referred to as tax stamps) for more than two decades now, with the stamps effectively contributing to government tax revenue. Indeed, every year, the Nepalese government generates 57 billion Nepalese rupees ($477 million) from excise duty, value-added tax, and health hazard tax imposed on cigarettes and alcohol.

A comprehensive new e-library focusing on tobacco taxation and illicit trade has been launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Knowledge Hub at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP). A project two-and-a-half-years in the making, it is set to be a valuable resource for students, researchers and policymakers across the globe.