The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Digital tax stamps to help identify genuine products on the market
Following the implementation of Digital Tax Stamps (DTS) last year, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has continued to highlight that the stamps will help consumers to identify and distinguish genuine products from those that are fake.
Goods ranging from water, soda, beer, spirits, and cigarettes, among others, will all now bear Digital Tax Stamps.
Also, they will bear a quick response code (QR code) that will make it easy for distributors, retailers, and consumers to use an app via their smartphones to verify the authenticity of any purchased product.
Digital Tax Stamps refer to physical paper stamps with security features and codes. They are applied to goods or their packaging to enable manufacturers and traders to track a product’s movement.
This will enable the government to easily monitor tax compliance.
In a bid to reduce on occurrences of irresponsible and unsafe trade, URA established Digital Tax Stamps to act as a label of goods that are appropriate for consumption.
Mr Fred Muwema, the director of legal and corporate affairs for Anti-Counterfeit Network said that this will also enable consumers to claim any damages and as well report shops with items that do not meet market requirements.
“I see two levels of liability here, the brand owner will be responsible as the primary manufacturer of the product, and the government that is certifying. The consumer, in that case, will be able to take action and claim damages,” Muwema made the remarks while speaking at a dial
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According to James Odongo, the URA assistant commissioner for domestic taxes, the Digital Tax Stamp is part of URA’s scheme to help reduce on revenue leakages that have been reported in recent years by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.
Odongo who was first to refute claims of the stamps creating a burden to manufacturers said that it is only an administrative measure aimed at monitoring counterfeits.
“It is an administrative measure to help monitor counterfeits,” he said, noting the move was not in any way seeking to burden manufacturers.’’
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Odongo further implied that the DTS is not a tax but rather a means of protecting consumers and manufacturers at once in a bid to ensure that consumers can also be able to tell us that the product is genuine or not and the consumer will also be enabled to tell us where they have found a fake product and our enforcement team
“The DTS is not a tax but rather a means of protecting the consumers and manufacturers at once. To ensure the consumers can be able to tell us that the product is genuine or not and the consumer will also be enabled to tell us where they have found a fake product and our enforcem
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By John Dalton Kigozi
