In September, the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group, a key partner in the STOP campaign (Stopping Tobacco Organisations and Products) published a case study and profile on South Africa and the country’s handling of the illicit tobacco trade.

The Department of Revenue and Taxation (DRT) of the US island territory of Guam in the Western Pacific, is opposing proposed legislation that would require it to hire a private company for the enforcement of tobacco taxes, as well as for the administration of a cigarette tax stamp programme that was supposed to be implemented in October 2018, but which is yet to see the light of day.

One of the largest illegal cigarette factories ever discovered in the Netherlands has been dismantled by law enforcement, with 13 arrests and seizures of 3.6 million cigarettes and 32 tonnes of tobacco.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, South Africa introduced two highly contentious prohibitions, banning the sale of both alcohol and tobacco products. The impact has seen both a complete loss of all duties and taxes from these commodities, and a booming illicit trade.

In the February issue of Tax Stamp & Traceability News™, we launched a series of articles by Chander S Jeena on the illicit tobacco trade in Southeast Asia and how it is being dealt with. This month we continue the series with an update on Vietnam.

During the recent Tax Stamp Forum™ in Budapest, Victor Villalón, former Head of the Chilean Internal Revenue Service’s Tax Compliance General Department, described the ‘digital enforcement powers’ bestowed on the service, in the shape of a new cigarette tax stamp and traceability programme implemented in March this year.

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.

Uganda has launched its new tax stamp and traceability programme on six different products: beer, spirits, wine, soda, mineral water and tobacco products.