Bahrain to implement Digital Stamps Scheme on cigarettes
The National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) confirmed that as of October 16, 2022, the final phase of the Digital Stamps Scheme will be applied to cigarette products in implementing the decision of the NBR’s Chief Executive No. (3) for the year 2022, where all cigarette products available for sale, trading, supply, or possession in local markets must have digital stamps.
The NBR encourages all importers and traders in the local market to deal in appropriate quantities and to avoid the storage of large quantities of cigarette products without digital stamps in order to be cleared prior to the last phase goes into effect by October 16, 2022, where the sale, circulation, possession or supply of cigarettes without the Digital Stamps in local market will be prohibited. Therefore, starting from this date, any product in the supply chain that does not have the digital stamp must be returned through the relevant supply chain to either be destroyed or moved for sale outside the territories of the Kingdom of Bahrain; this is to ensure effective implementation starting from this date to avoid any violations through the inspections efforts or other operations conducted by the NBR, which requires taking further legal actions such as imposing administrative penalties or filing a criminal case for Excise evasion.
This phase comes within a specific time plan that was effective with its first implementation phase on cigarette products as of March 11, 2022, where the system was made available to registered cigarette importers and local manufacturers to place the orders for the Digital Stamps, followed by the second phase of banning the import of cigarette products into the Kingdom of Bahrain for Customs clearance that does not have valid and activated digital stamps as of July 17, 2022.
