Revised Tax Stamp Standard Moves to Next Stage

The revised and updated international standard for tax stamps has passed through an important stage in its formal adoption by ISO (International Organization for Standards), advancing from a Working Draft to a Committee Draft. The standard provides guidance and best practice recommendations to revenue authorities, but is also relevant to suppliers as it will help them appreciate the approach of their actual or potential customers.

To explain: this standard (ISO 22382) was first published in 2018, so under ISO procedures it is now going through its five- year review. This started in 2023 under the auspices of ISO TC (Technical Committee) 292’s Working Group 4 (WG 4), which is responsible within ISO for standards on authenticity, integrity and trust for products and documents. WG 4 appointed Ian Lancaster as Project Leader, with a six-person drafting group to work on the update and improvements to the standard.

At this drafting stage, ISO categorises the standard as a Working Draft, which is what it is: a draft for discussion and revision within the WG. The next step is for it to become a Committee Draft – ie. the WG, after a ballot of its members, accepts the draft and recommends it to its parent committee (TC 292). The TC in turn distributes this Committee Draft to its members for a ballot as to whether to adopt, amend, or reject it.