De La Rue Welcomes Over 50 Tax Authorities to Inaugural Excise Tax Protection Course

During March and early April, De La Rue ran its inaugural Excise Tax Protection Course. The six-module course, delivered as online seminars, was aimed at government excise managers and professionals and was by invitation only. De La Rue plans for the course to become an annual event.

The course, delivered by a team of De La Rue domain experts, offered attendees a detailed exploration of digital tax stamp schemes covering areas such as legislation and regulation, the technical aspects of digital schemes, project management, commercial models and insights as to the future of traceability.

The attendees also benefited from an international line-up of keynote speakers, including:

• Professor Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which is responsible for the public funding of research and innovation

• The Rt Hon Sir Hugo Swire KCMG, Chairman of the International Advisory Board at Brennan & Partners, a business development consultancy providing growth solutions for companies, investors and governments globally

• Duncan Onduru, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators and former Kenya Revenue Authority Deputy Commissioner

• Dr Carlos Pérez Verdía-Canales, Economist and former Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

• Lami Adekola, Director for Financial and Professional Services in Africa and Deputy Country Director for the Department of International Trade (DIT) in Nigeria

• Tony Dawson, Director within CoreAzure, a leading Microsoft Gold Partner specialising in Microsoft cloud technologies.

Whilst the course was conceived as a face-to-face event, the move online had considerable advantages, as Global Sales Director Andrew Gilbert noted: ‘an hour online twice a week is much easier for delegates to attend than an overseas face-to-face seminar, and we were delighted to be able to expand attendance, with over 100 delegates from more than 50 tax authorities signing up for the course’. All the seminars were recorded and remain accessible to the attendees for future reference and training.

Julian Payne Product Director, Authentication added: ‘It is a great start to what we plan to be an annual event. We have been delighted by the engagement and interest in the course. It has been a lot of fun’.

If you might be interested in attending the 2022 course or finding out more, please contact [email protected].