The Central Excise Customs carried out a large-scale operation to destroy surplus paper excise stamps for tobacco marking, as well as damaged and unused excise stamps for alcohol marking. Source: Central Excise Customs (CAT).
More than 55 million stamps were destroyed, with a total packed weight of five tonnes.
No paper excise stamps for tobacco products remain in the Central Federal District.
In the near future the customs plans to dispose of hundreds of thousands more paper stamps stored at customs warehouses in Saint Petersburg and Rostov.
Since 1 September 2024 applications for paper tobacco excise stamps are no longer accepted; a mandatory digital marking system — Honest SIGN codes — has replaced them.
The new rules cover all tobacco and nicotine-containing products. Digital marking is intended to eliminate unaccounted and illegal tobacco turnover.
Production and sales data will flow into a single system, simplifying detection of violations. For consumers this adds a quality safeguard, as counterfeit cigarettes will not pass verification; businesses face new reporting and transparency requirements.
Mikhail Chaikin, head of CAT’s excise-stamp unit, commented:
“Customs authorities must strictly control excise-stamp circulation. Stamps not issued to importers within the prescribed period, or returned as unused or damaged, must be destroyed by shredding or incineration — the only reliable way to prevent their misuse on the black market.”
Svetlana Sayapina, CAT press secretary.