As has thankfully become a bit of a tradition again, post-COVID, ITSA (International Tax Stamp Association) recently held a pre-conference seminar on the occasion of the High Security Printing™ Latin America conference, which this year took place in Santiago, Chile.

According to Statista, the e-cigarette market is projected to generate revenue of $26 billion in 2024, with a 3.93% global compound annual growth rate between 2024-2029. While the legitimate market is growing, the vape industry, like other sectors, is plagued by counterfeit and other illicit products.

Francisco Mandiola looks at some interesting developments in seafood traceability, including a new certification system in Chile that captures images of fish on a conveyer line and then uses specific algorithms to identify each species.

Food fraud has become quite the trend globally and, in May 2024, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) published a report on illicit trade in food and food fraud.

Metrc, the leading provider of cannabis regulatory technology systems to US state governments, has announced a new contract with the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognised Native American tribe located in Southern California. This represents the first ever track and trace contract with a tribal government.

During the 2023 Tax Stamp and Traceability Forum™, held in Tbilisi, Georgia, I chaired a panel discussion on a topic that remains of ongoing interest to tax authorities: how are tax stamps really being authenticated in the field, and how are inspectors ensuring taxpayer compliance?

Lebanon is one of the few nations where the tobacco sector, including tobacco leaf farming and manufacturing, falls under state control.

The governor of California, USA, has approved a law to eliminate single-use plastic RFID tags for tracking and tracing marijuana plants.

Whether you use tax stamps or you don’t use tax stamps, let’s face it, illicit trade still exists. The difference is, tax stamps and associated track and trace and production monitoring systems help make illicit trade stand out more (like a sore thumb), plus they make it easier to trace illicit trade back to its origin, and identify at what point in the supply chain legal trade may have become illegal trade.

Since the introduction of its digital tax stamp, tracing, and reporting programme, Uganda has experienced continuous and sustained acceptance, implementation of and compliance with the programme.