One of the misconceptions about tax stamps is that they are another tool to prevent counterfeit products. However, tax stamps have nothing to do with counterfeit goods. In fact, tax stamps are equally at risk to being counterfeited as much as the product itself is.
To better understand how this misconception came to be and what tax stamps can and should implement, it is best to start at their roots.
The Digital Revolution, Tax Stamps, and Counterfeits
As amazing as the digital revolution was for many reasons, it also has had a negative effect on tax stamps protection. The easier it is to produce a Tax Stamp, the easier it is for counterfeiters to re-produce the same product.
The different shapes and sizes of modern tax stamps are a great illustration of how much tax stamps as a whole have evolved over the years.
The Different Tax Stamps
The tax stamp started as a piece of paper for any product, but it soon evolved into different designs for different products. For example, some consumers will never interact with certain tax stamps such as those related to firearms. Some users might also not realize that the simple post stamp on letters and packages is a type of tax stamp. Yet a third example of the variety of tax stamps being used today is the more commonly known one, the tobacco and alcohol stamp.
Modern day tax stamps have a variety of looks and protective components similar to any other security product. Like any anti-counterfeit strategy, the best form of product protection for tax stamps is a multi-layered one.
U-NICA’s Anti-Counterfeit Strategy for Tax Stamps
Due to the digital revolution, governments had to incorporate different anti-counterfeit elements to tax stamps. These elements, combined together, make it extremely difficult for counterfeiters to reproduce.
Tax stamps might not have been created with anti-counterfeit strategies in mind, but now, looking back at its history, one could say that the start of anti-counterfeit solutions grew from the need to collect taxes and stop illicit trade.
U-NICA’s multi-layered anti-counterfeit strategy is based on the security level pyramid. This pyramid has three anti-counterfeit protection levels, or layers, which governments implement into tax stamps.
The Public Security Level
The first level is the most obvious security measure because it can be verified by the human senses such as through sight or touch.
The Expert Security Level
This next security layer is geared specifically for simple devices making authentication by the naked human eye impossible. Consumers might see the anti-counterfeit element, but they won’t be able to verify it.
The Forensic Security Level
The last anti-counterfeit level is the strictest and only reserved for government use. This layer involves the use of actual forensic tools, such as laboratory equipment, to verify the tax stamp.
The U-NICA solution
In this new digital world, U-NICA implements various visible and invisible security features such as Pixelcloud and surTRACE, which fall under the scryptoTRACE umbrella, making it possible to check the genuinity of tax stamps with one single smartphone app. These are U-NICA’s proprietary security elements that fulfill all three layers of the security level pyramid. U-NICA’s focus on digital solutions is a perfect enhancement to the available existing physical security features while having all the digital advantages.
For better product protection in the digital world, specific and system-detailed customizations, such as privacy regulations, are available to fine tune the whole tax stamp solution. Further, tax stamp monitoring over its complete life cycle, secured label design management, and U-NICA’s Track and Trace are available for each tax stamp.
Contact U-NICA Today
Through the enhancement of current tax stamp solutions and the implementation of additional digital features, the security level pyramid is now digitized while keeping all related advantages. For tax stamps and their government entities, fully customized systems have transparent real-time market monitoring for individual requests.
Contact an expert at U-NICA today to learn more about how this anti-counterfeit solution can be designed to fit your specific needs and requirements.
