The UK’s Duty Stamp Scheme to clamp down on fraud in the drinks industry has been officially launched by HM Revenue & Customs to come into effect later this year.
The scheme will require the industry to apply duty stamps to bottles of spirits of 30% abv or more, contained in bottles of 35cl or above, on sale in the UK.
Under the scheme anyone who produces, stores or supplies spirits must ensure all qualifying bottles are stamped by October 1. Retailers can continue to sell alcohol that reached them before this date if they have paperwork evidence.
John Healey, HM Treasury financial secretary, said: “Alcohol fraud is at an unacceptable level in the UK.”