The International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) is hosting a special workshop at the High-Security Printing conference in San José, Costa Rica this month (June 3rd-5th) to highlight the latest regulatory and best practice developments around excise tax stamp and secure track and trace systems.
Participants at the event –including revenue agencies, academics, and economic development specialists– will learn how tax stamp programs can offer a secure, standardized, and cost-effective solution to combat the illicit trade of goods such as tobacco and alcohol.
The conference comes as countries come under mounting pressure to ramp up investment in security solutions to counter the threat of tobacco counterfeiters and fraudsters. Under the World Health Organization’s (WHO) – Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Protocol, which came into force last year, all countries must introduce a track and trace system for cigarettes by 2023. The likelihood is that national revenue authorities will be responsible for enforcing these systems, possibly via the use of tax stamps. 
Nicola Sudan, ITSA General Secretary, said: “Tax stamp programs provide a secure and independent way of implementing combined tax collection and track and trace systems, and ITSA will use the workshop at the High-Security Printing conference to discuss best practices around such implementation. We will also describe how these systems can counter the illicit trade of tobacco products to deliver on the public health mandate that is at the foundation of the WHO-FCTC Protocol.
The experts and officials who come along to our event will learn how to prepare for the implementation of the FCTC Protocol, and how the ISO 22382 standard can provide valuable guidance on the development of and specifications for tax stamps. We will also shine a light on examples of best practice around the world, where countries have successfully adopted tax stamp programs and track and trace systems that are among the most effective in the market”.
Additionally, over 150 revenue agencies (national and state governments) globally use tax stamps to collect valuable tax duties and excise payments, involving the worldwide production of some 140 billion stamps annually.
The ITSA event took place from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, on June 3rd, 2019. Individuals who wanted to attend must have contacted Nicola Sudan on +44 1932 508 806 or [email protected]
For more information on the High-Security Printing conference, visit https://www.reconnaissance.net/hsp-latinamerica/
