In last month’s Tax Stamp & Traceability News™, we launched a new series on the use of tax stamps and associated track and trace systems in different regions of the world, starting with Africa. This month, we shift the focus to the Middle East.

A new study focusing on the trends and challenges of counterfeit and illicit trade in the high-tech sector – as well as the technologies for combatting such trade – provides interesting insights that are of relevance to other industries, including excise products.

We kick off 2021 with a new series on the use of tax stamps and their associated track and trace systems in different regions of the world – starting with Africa. The series provides a summary of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of tax stamp usage, together with country profiles, which formed a significant part of Reconnaissance’s recently released report ‘Tax Stamps & Traceability: A Market Analysis and Technical Update’.

A review by Ian Lancaster, project leader for ISO 22382 tax stamp guidance standard.

New investment in track and trace systems, rising excise taxes and wider commercial applications will drive tax stamp growth in the next five years, according to Reconnaissance International’s new tax stamp report.

Cigarettes and tobacco products were the most reported counterfeit goods in the UK in 2019/20, according to a survey conducted by the country’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and IP Crime Office.

The World Customs Organisation (WCO) has released the annual update of its Illicit Trade Report (ITR). Reports were submitted by 86 countries – up significantly from 54 countries in 2018, making it more representative than previous iterations.

Next month, Reconnaissance International will launch the much-awaited third edition of Tax Stamps & Traceability: A Market Analysis and Technical Update – which, since the launch of the first edition back in 2007, has remained the only authoritative report of its kind.

The 2019 Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index has recently been released. The concept is not a new one and borrows from the methodology originally developed by the South East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance to assess the extent to which the tobacco industry was unduly influencing governments in Asia.