Prosefa gives ultimatum to sellers of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages to place tax stamps on products in stock until January 7, 2024.

A notice from PROSEFA, an acronym for the National Program of High Security Tax Stamps, determines that economic agents who sell alcoholic beverages and cigarettes and tobacco and its derivatives have until February 7 to seal the products in stock under penalty of seeing the approval and availability of high security tax stamps on the program's platform 'blocked'.

"The use of tax stamps on products in stock such as Tobacco (and its manufactured substitutes) and Alcoholic Beverages (wines and spirits) enjoys a transitional period of exceptional sealing that ends on January 7, under the National Program of High Security Tax Stamps (PROSEFA)", reads the press release to which we had access.

 Thus, and as a way to control the products, the program informs all Economic Operators that, by January 7, 2024, they must submit to the General Tax Administration the respective Declaration of the Stock existing in their surfaces, and the non-compliance with this requirement will condition the approval and availability of high security tax stamps on the program's platform.

According to the note, only after the Economic Operator declares the use of the seal does it become active. "As long as its use is not declared, the seal is identified as invalid and the respective packaging cannot be marketed. The means of validating seals are already accessible to Economic Operators and supervisory authorities and will soon be extended to anyone who installs the PROSEFA Mobile Application", reads the document. 

The AGT's notice also reinforces that the National High Security Tax Stamps Program thus reiterates that on January 8, 2024, all products covered by this obligation, including those considered in stock, displayed in the different commercial establishments (factories, warehouses, terraces, restaurants, mobile homes, bars, canteens, markets, supermarkets, fairs, cultural events and the like) must be sealed under the terms of this measure.

However, in the event of a misdemeanor, those responsible for the establishments will be sanctioned under the terms provided for by law.

With this, the use of tax stamps will be mandatory on Tobacco (and its manufactured substitutes) and Alcoholic Beverages (wines and spirits) that are locally produced or imported. Thus, unsealed products marketed on the market will be equated with counterfeit and smuggled products, and may be confiscated and restricted by the authorities. 

Approved by Presidential Decree No. 216/19, of 15 July, PROSEFA establishes the obligation to affix high security tax stamps to beverages, alcoholic liquids, tobacco and their manufactured substitutes.

For AGT, the high-security tax stamp is a tax control mechanism, whose objective is to combat smuggling and counterfeiting, to protect the revenue due to the State, as well as to ensure the reliability of products introduced into the national territory, thus safeguarding the protection of Public Health and Intellectual Property Rights.

"Whereas, pursuant to paragraph 3 of article 18 of Executive Decree no. 64/23, of 12 May – Regulation on Mandatory Sealing, it provides that products in stock, whether locally produced and/or imported, intended for commercialisation in the national market, which are circumstantially not sealed on the date of commencement of mandatory sealing, may remain and cohabit on the market for a maximum period of 180 days,  at the end of which the Economic Operator undertakes to affix the High Security Tax Stamps to the same products, under penalty of liability in case of non-compliance, punishable under the terms of the legislation in force on the matter", determines the AGT, through PROSEFA.