Exclusive Julian Hunt Alcohol could soon be marked with a UK Duty Paid' stamp as part of the government's efforts to tackle smuggling. A similar mark is now appearing on all tobacco products sold in this country ­ and the initial feedback from wholesalers and retailers is that it is helping in the fight against bootleggers. As with tobacco, severe penalties would be imposed on any retailer caught selling alcohol that did not carry the UK Duty Paid stamp. The idea of extending the stamp to alcohol was first proposed in the report sent to the government in July by the Roques Committee, set up to find ways of reducing Treasury losses through duty fraud. The Grocer understands Customs and Excise has now started discussing the proposal with the drinks industry. Talks are at a very early stage and centre on practicalities such as how the mark could appear on bottles and cans. The introduction of duty paid marks on tobacco created plenty of logistical headaches for those operating in the independent sector. With alcohol, wholesalers in particular would face stock control difficulties as they handle more than 40% of all beers, wines and spirits sold in the UK. Alan Toft, director general of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors, said: "We will be working with Customs in the positive manner in which we negotiated tobacco marking on behalf of the total industry. "Anything that helps to reduce bootlegging will be welcomed by our members who are still affected by criminal duty fraud." Toft said the federation had the "right relationship" with Customs to ensure the duty mark was introduced in a way that led to minimum disruption for his members and their retail customers. Some supermarket chains have already expressed fears their businesses would be hit by the proposal. One retailer said such an initiative would effectively prevent it from legitimately sourcing stock on the grey market. More worrying, he said, was that duty marks would adversely impact suppliers ­ particularly those overseas who used the same labels to ship product into the UK and other markets. The BLRA, which represents the brewing sector, warned its members would face "real practical difficulties" in putting a mark on cans and bottles of beer because production lines were not set up to handle domestic product and exports separately. {{NEWS }}