From 1 January 2021, e-cigarettes and water pipe tobacco products (also known as shisha) need to have a digital tax stamp to avoid a ban.
These products cannot be sold, transported, stored or possessed without the digital tax stamp.
The digital tax stamp system helps the FTA improve its ability to collect excise tax charged on water pipe tobacco or electrically heated cigarettes in the UAE after being imported or manufactured locally.
It also helps in controlling the products and enabling stakeholders to analyse the supply chain to control the selling of illicit tobacco products.
The digital tax stamp system facilitates inspection and control at customs outlets and local markets, in order to ban the sale of contraband products and combat commercial fraud.
The digital tax stamp will be placed on the packages of tobacco products and registered in the FTA database.
The digital tax stamp contains data that can be read with a special device to make sure all taxes due on these products have been paid.