Micro-Transponders for Tax Stamps?

While the principal method of applying unique identifiers and other variable information to a tax or authentication label is via digital printing, some labels carry that information in a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

RFID has in the past been touted as a track and trace technology for tobacco and spirits, through application to either the product packaging or the tax stamps… but just as quickly dismissed, due which render them unsuitable for high- volume products.

Although these issues have since been addressed, to a large extent, by the introduction of printed microcircuitry, the use of RFID labels on tax stamps remains rare.

But what about the use of micro- transponders? Would they be a more viable solution for tax stamps?

Micro-transponders are implantable, silicon microchips that are about the size of a grain of sand. They have been described as the only way to uniquely identify animals, but can be embedded into just about anything.

p-Chip Corp, for example, produces micro- transponders with unique serial numbers for track and trace, which are used by the Consorzio del Parmigiano Reggiano on its parmesan cheese wheels. The chips are embedded into the casein label used to mark the rind, with the label being incorporated into the cheese very early on in the production process so that it, together with the chip, become one with the cheese.

Bill Eibon, Chief Technology Officer, p-Chip Corp, describes the chip as a ‘passive taggant’.

‘It sits dormant on an object and when you put modulated light of a specific frequency on it, this wakes up the circuit, which checks its memory and emits an encoded micro RF signal that a specific p-Chip® reader picks up and decodes into a unique serial ID,’ he explained.

Although the implementation of p-Chip may overlap with that of RFID tags, 2D barcodes, and even the physical embossing of objects, the comparison stops there, according to the company.

While RFID is a widely used technology, it is also more expensive than p-Chip, which costs just a few pennies per piece. RFID is also much larger, more fragile, and more challenging to attach to objects, while p-Chip is highly resistant to heat and chemicals, and can be scanned through paper, glass, animal tissue, frost… you name it.

As for barcodes, although cheap, they offer minimal security, can be easily duplicated, and are large and fragile, said the company.

In September, p-Chip launched the p-Chip Code™ secure tracking tag, consisting of a micro-transponder embedded into a standard 2D matrix code, and delivered in the form of a label.

The company is currently focused on sectors such as the complicated food industry, where manufacturers need granular visibility, down to every ingredient, product, process, as well as right across the supply chain, and where micro-transponders can therefore play a vital role.

But the question still remains about whether we’ll ever see one on a tax stamp.