The World Conference on Tobacco or Health recently hosted a virtual summit, in partnership with – among others – the World Health Organisation, WHO FCTC Secretariat and Framework Convention Alliance.

The visible digital seal technology, originally adopted by countries for travel document verification, is now gaining wider international acceptance as an affordable and efficient solution outside of the travel domain – including on tax stamps.

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.

Lately, we’ve been hearing of a growing number of companies that are offering, or expanding on, their market surveillance and product intelligence services as a way of helping enforcement officials and brand owners to quickly identify illicit trade activity in particular markets, and to act upon these activities before it is too late.

The Tanzanian Parliamentary Budget Committee has commended the performance of the country’s tax stamp programme and has called for it to be extended to more products.

Nasdaq-listed VerifyMe, which uses physical, digital and online technology to create customised authentication, track and trace and customer engagement solutions, recently announced an initial order for 4 million VerifyMe technology-enabled labels from a new cannabis-related client.

The International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) is being increasingly recognised by government revenue departments as an authoritative body of experts on tax stamp and traceability solutions for excise products.

De La Rue recently announced a major investment to expand its existing facilities in Malta, in order to create a 29,000m2 manufacturing site. The expansion will double De La Rue Authentication’s manufacturing capacity for tax stamps and brand protection labels.

In July, Russia’s new National Product Traceability System (NPTS) transitioned from being experimental and voluntary, to a mandatory scheme for businesses dealing in certain types of products. The new scheme was implemented alongside the already existing Chestny ZNAK (‘honest mark’) product traceability system, introduced in 2019.

Four countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam – could have collected an additional $4.81 billion in tax revenue over the last two years and prevented more than 1.3 million premature deaths, if they had had an effective tobacco tax policy in place, claims a recent study released by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

In June, in an unfortunate hooch tragedy (hooch is another word for moonshine – or illicit liquor), more than 100 people lost their lives in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Following the incident, a police raid raised concerns that the state excise policy was inadequate and needed reviewing, especially in relation to the use of tax stamps as an important anti-counterfeiting tool.

In last month’s Tax Stamp & Traceability News™, we published the first of a two-part review of tax stamps and traceability programmes in Latin America. This month, we give a brief update on Central American countries, together with more in-depth coverage of Costa Rica and Ecuador, where there have been several key developments.

Malta is showing the world how to address the complex problem of illicit tobacco – ie. by adopting a steady and consistent approach.

In July, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) held a webinar on the benefits of track and trace systems as tools in tobacco tax administration, as well as the best practices for implementing such systems.

The Sindh High Court in Pakistan has reversed a stay order imposed earlier this year on a licence agreement issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for a track and trace system on local and imported tobacco, cement, sugar and fertiliser.

In this article, we examine the illicit tobacco trade in Australia and how it is continuing to evolve. We look at what continues to drive smokers to seek illicit tobacco, but also what criminal networks did when looking to source and traffic illicit tobacco products into Australia during the pandemic.

Bahrain’s National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) and the General Tax Authority (GTA) of Qatar have recently announced the signature of new contracts with De La Rue for the provision of national digital tax stamp and traceability programmes on a number of excise goods.

It is no secret that the world, and the Latin American region in particular, has faced many negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

KPMG’s annual study of the illicit trade in tobacco in Europe is a robust and well-established study of illicit trade trends in Europe since its inception in 2006.

The recent news that Nigeria is considering the introduction of excise tax on telecommunication airtime charges, in a bid to raise additional revenues, has prompted stakeholders to question whether excise taxes are actually appropriate for this sector.