News in Brief

Ethiopia Targets Fourfold Revenue Increase with Tax Stamps

The Ethiopian Ministry of Finance plans to increase excise tax revenue by three to four times through the implementation of excise stamps, traceability, and an advanced excise management system.

The Ministry is currently selecting technology firms to provide solutions for the excise stamps, following a Request for Expression of Interest, and a subsequent Request for Pre-Qualification, issued in late 2022.

For the current fiscal year, the goal was to collect approximately ETB 35.2 billion ($645 million) in excise tax, of which nearly ETB 20 billion ($367 million) was expected to come from domestically manufactured goods such as beer, soft drinks, sugar, and tobacco.

Presenting the Ministry’s nine-month performance report to the House of Peoples’ Representatives, Finance Minister Ahmed Shide attributed lower revenue collection to a lack of traceability, tracking, and transparency of excise goods and services.

However, he remained confident that the stamps will improve the traceability of goods, yielding higher revenues.

Kenya to Roll Out Tax Stamps for Cosmetics and Beauty Products

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has announced the launch of tax stamps and production monitoring and traceability systems on cosmetics and beauty products, from 1 July 2023.

To ensure a smooth rollout, KRA invited manufacturers, importers and other stakeholders to a virtual stakeholder engagement meeting at the beginning of May.

Manufacturers with automated production lines were also asked to contact KRA to facilitate a technical site visit to confirm their lines met the installation requirements for equipment under the KRA’s Excisable Goods Management System (EGMS).

The EGMS was introduced in Kenya in 2013, and is provided by SICPA. It includes multilevel security tax stamps and remote automated monitoring of domestic production lines. The system is currently applied to cigarettes, alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages, with the latter using secure 2D barcodes printed directly onto the product packaging, as opposed to paper-based tax stamps.

OpSec Group Goes Public

OpSec Group has announced that it will list on the NASDAQ stock exchange by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) – Investcorp Europe Acquisition Corp. The SPAC is an arm of OpSec’s current owners, the private equity firm Investcorp Technology Partners.

The merger and listing is expected to close in the second half of the year, and will raise nearly $200 million, part of which will be used to fund growth through product development and potential acquisitions.

OpSec operates across six principal market segments, including IP portfolio management, brand solutions, online brand protection, and government solutions. The government solutions include tax stamp and traceability systems for controlled products such as tobacco and alcohol, with Malta and Mozambique being examples of countries that currently use OpSec tax stamp solutions.

One of the latest government programmes to be implemented using OpSec’s solutions is in Lebanon, where an authentication and traceability programme was developed by OpSec and SCOPSIS (a digital transformation company in Lebanon), in collaboration with the Regie Libanaise des Tabacs et Tombacs (Lebanese tobacco and tombac authority).

The programme consists of physical, high-security labels with unique identification codes, as well as secure information transfer systems, and mobile authentication devices. In addition, OpSec will utilise its web monitoring technology to thwart any attempt by illicit traders to sell counterfeit labels online.