The National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) has confirmed that as of June 18, the final phase of the tobacco “molasses” products within the Digital Stamps Scheme will be implemented.
All tobacco “molasses” products available for possession, trade, supply, or sale in the local markets must have valid and activated digital stamps as part of their product packaging.
The NBR encourages all importers and traders in the local market to deal in appropriate quantities and to avoid the storage of waterpipe tobacco “molasses” products without digital stamps to be cleared prior to the last phase going into effect by June 18.
The possession, trade, supply or sale of waterpipe tobacco “molasses” products without valid and activated digital stamp in the local market will be prohibited.
Starting from this date, any waterpipe tobacco “molasses” product in the supply chain that does not have a valid and activated digital stamp must be returned through the relevant supply chain to either be destroyed or moved for sale outside the territories 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.
The Digital Stamps Scheme aims to track excise goods from the manufacturing stage to the consumption point through digital stamps, which will protect against the circulation of counterfeit or illegal products.
This phase comes within a specific time plan that was effective with its first implementation milestone on waterpipe tobacco “molasses” products as of November 20, 2022, where the system was made available to place the orders for the Digital Stamps, followed by the second milestone of banning the import of waterpipe tobacco “molasses” products into the Kingdom of Bahrain for Customs clearance that does not have valid and activated digital stamps as of March 19, 2023.
Source: Bahrain News Agency