A record 230 delegates from 36 countries proved, yet again, that tax stamps are of global interest. The 3rd Tax Stamp Forum was held in Washington DC from September 12-14, and covered all aspects of the role of tax stamps in the collection of excise duties on tobacco and alcoholic beverages. It included a two day conference, a workshop on tax stamp security and an exhibition, and one of the marked characteristics, compared with the event's two predecessors, is how a common vision for tax stamp solutions is slowly beginning to emerge among the different stakeholders.

The event began with a workshop titled 'The Technology behind Tax Stamp Security', during which eleven presenters from nine different countries discussed various technical aspects, ranging from security printing to track and trace to the geo-location of the inspectors.

Some of these topics were also covered during the main conference, which ran concurrently with the exhibition and was divided into four sessions - the Tax Stamp Environment, Practical Counter Measures, Technology and End-to-End Systems.

The platinum sponsor for the event was the EDAPS Consortium, and gold sponsors were SICPA, De La Rue and Madras Security Printers. The exhibition of technologies for tax stamp production, authentication and tracking exceeded expectations in terms of the number and quality of exhibitor booths. In addition to the sponsors, companies exhibiting included AM-PG Group, Andrews & Wykeham, Atlantic Zeiser, Banknote Corporation of America/GSSC, Blumer Maschinenbau, Giesecke & Devrient, Holostik India, Inspectron, KBA Nota-Sys, Luminesence, Meyers Fiscal Stamp, Opalux, Optaglio and Security Papers.

The next Tax Stamp Forum will be held in Europe in June 2013.

Read the review of the 3rd Tax Stamp Forum here