Beer Stamp Pilot Launched in Russia

In April, the Moscow Printing Factory of Goznak announced that it had started a pilot project, together with Russia’s Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, for the application of what it called ‘special’ stamps to beer and low-alcohol beverages.

Although beer products are already included in Russia’s Unified State Automated Information System (EGAIS) – which tracks the production volumes and turnover of all alcohol products sold on the Russian market – they have not, up to now, been carriers of tax stamps.

The pilot is taking place in Tatarstan, one the republics of the Russian Federation, with the participation of 100 beer manufacturers from that region.

Valentina Yushina, Deputy Director of Production at the Moscow Printing Factory of Goznak said that a preliminary quantity of 1.5 million stamps had been printed at the factory, for the purpose of the project, but that the factory had the capacity to provide stamps for all regions in Russia. The stamps were produced on a new web printing machine recently installed at the factory, and carry a number of different security features developed by Goznak.