Digital Tax Stamps – A proven digital solution to protect Government tax revenues and trace excisable products throughout the complete supply chain.

The illicit trade in counterfeit and smuggled excisable products such as tobacco is worth millions of dirhams. The effects on businesses that operate in the same field can be devastating and can cause huge losses in tax revenue to governments. Digital tax stamps are proven solutions to successfully combat this illicit trade and increase excise revenues and enable governments to fulfill their obligations related to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) treaty. This evidence-based treaty reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health and includes the combating of illicit trade

Digital Tax Stamps are a mechanism of marking their excisable products such as alcohol and tobacco to ensure the correct level of revenue has been paid to the government. Providing a valuable recognition feature, tax stamps help the public identify that the sold products are genuine. This in turn enables the government to authenticate, validate and trace excisable products from manufacturer to retailer with valuable data.

In enhancing the excise tax regime in the UAE, the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has announced the adoption of new design for ‘Digital Tax Stamps’ to be placed on the packaging of cigarettes, electrically heated cigarettes, and waterpipe tobacco (known in Arabic as ‘Mu’assel’) circulated in local markets.

The new Stamps will replace the existing ones which are presently in use since January 1, 2019, as per Cabinet Decision No. (42) of 2018 on Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products.

Decision No. (3) of 2021 for the new design will go into effect on October 1, 2021, to formally adopt the newly redesigned ‘Digital Tax Stamps’.

• The first category of Stamps goes into effect from October 1, 2021 where the Stamps with the red design will be placed on packaging of all types of cigarettes, while those with the purple (liliac) design will be applied to the packaging of electrically heated cigarettes and waterpipe tobacco, which are authorized for trade in local markets and arrival halls at airports.



• The second category goes into effect January 1, 2022, where the Stamps with the green design would be placed on all cigarette packages, while those with a blue design would be applied to the packaging of electrically heated cigarettes and waterpipe tobacco, which are authorized for trade in duty-free shops in departure halls at airports.

Digital Stamp Request :

Service Information:

UAE track and trace service provided by the Federal Tax Authority in partnership with the operator “De La Rue” issues Digital Tax Stamps for designated goods subject to excise tax that include tobacco products and cigarettes. It is not permitted to import, sell, trade or produce any of these designated excisable tobacco products which do not carry Digital Tax Stamp on their packaging.

Service Requirements:

The conditions to be met are:

• The applicant should have an excise TRN.
• The designated Excise products need to be registered in the tax system.

Service Standard : 2 business days.

Service Fee: The purchase fee of the Digital Stamp is 0.084 dirhams per stamp , which must be paid by the importer or manufacturer upon registration of the order to the operating company De la Rue.

Service Channels: DTS Certify system

Service Procedure:

• Log in to the DTS Certify system https://dts.tax.gov.ae/ae/index.jsp
• Go to “Order Management” and input the information related to the order (Stamp type, product type, manufacturer and quantity).
• Download the application form from the page, fill it in and send it to ftadtscustomercare@delarue.com to obtain the username and password.

Order Process for Digital Tax Stamps

>>Download the registration form for importers. >>Download the registration form for manufacturers.

VIEW: New Stamp Design Frequently Asked Questions