During the summer of 2021, I looked at the illicit trade that had started to spin out of control in Australia in the wake of the pandemic.

The 10th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), and the Third session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP3) to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, has been postponed from November 2023 to as early as possible in 2024.

With three new companies recently added to the growing membership base of the International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA), the total number of members now stands at 28 – the highest level yet!

In early October, the Georgia Revenue Service (GRS) co-hosted the Tax Stamp and Traceability Forum™ with Reconnaissance International to showcase the success of its local solution and discuss the latest developments in the industry.

Demax Holograms was one of the first manufacturers of security holograms in eastern Europe and now sells its products to over 70 different countries. It took the opportunity to present its latest nano-optical elements for physical security at the recent Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™ in Tbilisi, Georgia (2-4 October 2023).

Recently, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Tabaconomía, a tobacco control think-tank that is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies, held a webinar to discuss the status of tobacco taxation post-COVID-19.

The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has revealed that the country’s fuel marking and quality monitoring programme has led to a drastic reduction in fuel adulteration, from 30% in 2015 to less than 0.5% this year.

Singapore is making amendments to its Free Trade Zones Act to enhance regulation and control of goods that flow through the 10 free trade zones (FTZs) in the country.

Oumolat Security Printing, owned by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE), has entered into a strategic partnership with SICPA to print enhanced tax stamps and track activities through the integration of advanced technologies.

As previously reported in Tax Stamp & Traceability News™, the international standard for excise tax stamps, ISO 22382:2018, is now due its five- year review, in accordance with ISO procedures (the International Organization for Standards).

The International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) has responded to a claim by economic advisory firm Oxford Economics (OE) that tax stamp-based track and trace systems are not compatible with the WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, while ‘fully digital’ solutions, based on open standards, are.

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

This month, we have a new entry in our ongoing interview series investigating the experiences of International Tax Stamp Association members, diving into their personal perspectives on the tax industry, today’s challenges and opportunities, and tomorrow’s potential advances.

One of the best comments coming out of the 11th Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™ (TSTF), held from 2-4 October in Tbilisi, Georgia, was from a revenue authority attending the forum for the first time. They said that now that they’d seen first-hand what they’d been missing by not attending this event, they would be sure to attend all security printing conferences in future.

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.

Reconnaissance International is pleased to announce the release of its new publication – ‘Smartphones for Authentication’ – the only publication of its kind.

As previously announced in Tax Stamp & Traceability News™, it has been five years since the international standard for tax stamps (ISO 22382:2018) was published by the International Organization for Standards (ISO), so in accordance with ISO procedures, this standard is now due to be reviewed.

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.

Nanotechnology has been a fertile breeding ground for authentication and brand protection devices – given that structures that can be controlled at the nanoscale (roughly the size of a few atoms or molecules) exhibit responses to light that are distinctive and near impossible to replicate. Now, a team of researchers and entrepreneurs has launched a new optical ink feature into the market.

As a large number of Tax Stamp & Traceability News™ readers are already aware, tobacco and alcohol producers spend significant amounts of time and effort lobbying against the installation of tax stamp and traceability systems that are fully managed by national revenue authorities.