Tag: Bahrain

  • Bahrain Launches Digital Stamps System

    Bahrain Launches Digital Stamps System

    Photo: gonin

    Bahrain’s National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) has launched a digital stamp scheme to track excise goods, including tobacco products, from manufacturing to the point of consumption, reports the Bahrain News Agency

    The goal of the scheme is to protect consumers from counterfeit or illegal products, limit attempts to smuggle excise goods into the kingdom, and ensure the effectiveness of government revenue collection.

    Implementation of the digital stamps will take place in phases in collaboration with Customs Affairs at the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, and the Ministry of Health. There will be three phases. The first phase will focus on cigarette products. The second phase includes implementation on all imported products through customs clearance, and the last phase includes implementation in local markets.

    Registration for the scheme is required by excise payers who import tobacco products and their relevant supply chain organizations from production to the release of the products to the local market, according to the NBR.

    The NBR held two virtual workshops to help prepare stakeholders for successful implementation of the digital stamps.

  • Bahrain Mulls Request for Tobacco Factories

    Bahrain Mulls Request for Tobacco Factories

    Photo: Preju

    Bahrain’s Shura Council will vote on whether to allow plans to open tobacco manufacturing factories in Bahrain, reports the Gulf Daily News.

    However, the council has stated that products produced at the factories should not be sold in Bahrain; they should only be manufactured for export.

    The committee also overturned a ban on the import, production and distribution of juices for e-cigarettes and e-shisha.

    “In the past, Bahrain was known to be the regional hub for tobacco productions of numerous types with moasil—a shisha tobacco—being the most famous,” said Zayed Alzayani, industry, commerce and tourism minister. “Nowadays, our Bahraini-flavored moasil is being imported from numerous countries like the [United Arab Emirates], Egypt and Jordan. It is being sold using our traditional nametag across the world.”

    “We have gotten a request from some investors, from Bahrain and abroad, to open tobacco manufacturing factories in Bahrain with their investments being more than $300 million and offering 400 jobs for Bahrainis, which would be 98 percent of the total workforce,” Alzayani said. “This move would also help provide beneficiary assistance to our logistics, shipping and cargo sectors.”

    This move would help provide beneficiary assistance to our logistics, shipping and cargo sectors.

    Zayed Alzayani, industry, commerce and tourism minister

    Adding tobacco manufacturing would help generate revenue for the government and build necessary infrastructure, according to Alzayani.

    Health Ministry officials told the committee that juices are not considered tobacco under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. “We don’t have control over juices since it is not considered tobacco, but that doesn’t mean we cannot monitor the content,” officials added.

    Anti-smoking advocates worry that allowing manufacturing would increase the number of smokers in Bahrain.