This article represents the first in a series that aims to educate readers on the dynamic nature of Free Trade Zones (FTZs) and key issues that need addressing, as well as, ideally, offer a means by which suppliers of secure track and trace technologies can address this heretofore untapped potential new market.

The Cannabis Work Group of AIM North America, the premier alliance for the automated data capture technologies industry, has released a white paper reviewing the use of automatic identification and data capture solutions (including barcodes, RFID, and NFC) for cannabis traceability.

Over the years, the business case for using tax stamps has increased considerably, in tandem with the emergence of new technologies and best practices for managing excise and other goods that require robust supply chain controls.

Many technologies and features with their roots in commercial printing have made, and continue to make, a substantial contribution to secure document production. However, these technologies have for the most part been concerned with producing visual colours, perceived by the unaided eye as conventional colour printing.

The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) has released its ‘Technology and Security: Countering Criminal Infiltrations in the Legitimate Supply Chain’ report.

Europol’s Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2021 (SOCTA-21) provides a detailed account of the dramatic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on organized crime, illicit markets in general and the illicit tobacco market in the EU in particular.

In the January issue of 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 Asia and Australasia.

In April, Reconnaissance International held a one-hour webinar to present its new review 'Tax Stamps & Traceability: A Market Analysis and Technical Update' to over 200 registrants. The co-editor of the review, Nicola Sudan, was joined by its two main contributors: Michael Eads (ME) of Sovereign Border Solutions, and Richard Jotcham (RJ) of Axess Technologies.

Track and trace, trace and track, supply chain transparency, traceability… a confusion of terms to describe the use of an encoded unique identifier to determine the source and the pathway of an individual product.

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