Security Begins Below the Surface – and Extends Far Beyond

For decades, tax stamp programmes have relied on multiple layers of overt, covert and forensic security to protect government revenues and combat illicit trade. Yet, as counterfeiters become increasingly adept at reproducing certain visible security features and copying digital identifiers, the importance of those layered defences is growing.

Speaking at High Security Printing™ Latin America, Balázs Megyeri, Chief Research and Development Officer at the Hungarian publicly listed company ANY Security Printing Company PLC, highlighted a range of technologies designed to strengthen tax stamp security at every level, from substrates and inks to hidden machine-readable authentication and digital verification systems.

Security starts with paper

ANY’s approach begins at the substrate level, where security is embedded directly into the paper rather than added during printing. This includes multitone watermarks, and inhouse-developed security fibres and shiny dot particles, which can be used to produce customised substrates for individual programmes.

Among the most unique developments in this area are shiny dots enhanced with up-converting luminescent ink, as well as chemical or elemental taggants for forensic authentication, thereby enabling multiple authentication levels within a single paper component.