On 27 February 2025, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) celebrated the 20th anniversary of its entry into force.

Further to our announcement last month of the speakers signed up for this year’s Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™, from 7-9 April in Cape Town, South Africa, the programme has now been finalised.

Two cannabis businesses in the Canadian province of Alberta – Token Naturals and Plantlife Cannabis – together with US technology company Metrc, are launching a pilot project in Alberta to improve the transparency and safety of cannabis products.

Oman has announced changes to the implementation timeframe and scope for extending its tax stamp and digital traceability programme to excisable drinks.

Tax stamps have been around since the late 17th century and were originally embossed or impressed on products or documents. Today, they have evolved from simple adhesive labels into sophisticated tools that play a crucial role in revenue protection and tax compliance.

The American Lung Association (ALA) has called for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to propose and finalise regulations to implement track and trace technology on all tobacco products to prevent illicit trade, including counterfeiting and smuggling activities.

Across the tax stamp and traceability sector, several concurrent technologies are forcing change: digitisation, the impact of AI, and the prospect of quantum computing. There is no doubt that, individually, these technologies offer convenience and efficiency, but should we be concerned about the interplay between them and whether they could lead to a new set of threats?

The global security print landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, and, in its wake, there are two extremes of skills shortage.

If you only read media reports, it would be easy to assume that the most significant advances in identity document security stem from digital innovation, with biometric verification, blockchain-based identity management, and digital certificates dominating discussions.

Two independent studies point to the fact that cigarette smokers in Uruguay still prefer illicit cigarettes.

As illicit trade becomes more advanced, how do governments protect their revenues, citizens, and natural resources?

Following a competitive tender, Smurfit Kappa Security Concepts (SKSC) has been awarded a contract by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners – the Irish government agency responsible for customs and excise – to supply tobacco tax stamps, in the wake of tax increases introduced in 2024 and 2025.

In India, cigarettes are expected to be among the first products to be brought under a track and trace mechanism aimed at curbing tax evasion, following amendments to the Central Goods & Services Tax (GST) Act. Pan masala (a popular chewing mixture) may also be included in the initiative.

The programme for this year’s Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum (from 7-9 April in Cape Town, South Africa) is shaping up nicely, with some important themes on the agenda. This article describes some of these themes, which will be presented as workshops, standalone papers or panel discussions.

Hong Kong’s new Commissioner of Customs and Excise Chan Tsz-tat has announced that a tax stamp system for tobacco could be introduced in the third quarter of 2026 at the earliest, with a pilot scheme set for mid-2025.

While we are used to seeing informative and dynamic presentations of banknote designs and security features on central bank websites, imagine our surprise when we came across a presentation of tobacco authentication labels on the Swedish Public Health Agency site!

As we enter the new year, the question on our readers’ minds is: what are the significant developments that will shape the industry over the coming 12 months? We asked members of the International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) to share their perspectives on what could define the year ahead, with predictions covering technological innovations, market expansions and evolving sustainability priorities.

One of the features in the final issue of Tobacco Reporter, published in December 2024, described how the Belarusian tobacco industry has been shrouded in secrecy for over a decade.

In the February 2024 issue of Tax Stamp & Traceability News™, we described how the International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) had submitted recommendations1 for a secure and interoperable implementation of the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) to the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC).

There is a common belief that traceability solutions alone will eliminate counterfeiting and simplify product authentication. However, while item-level traceability enhances product transparency, the most commonly adopted technologies come with vulnerabilities, especially in terms of authentication.