PWPW has been producing excise tax labels at the order of the Ministry of Finance since 1993. The company is in possession of data concerning the production and distribution of excise tax label bands placed on tobacco products, spirits and wines introduced on the Polish market. The essential objective of the works on the information system, which began in early 2012, was to enable online reporting from PWPW to the Ministry of Finance and, in the future, placing electronic orders for label bands.

“In the course of the works, we came to a conclusion that certain information items may be made available to all the interested parties", says Andrzej Bogun, Member of the Management Board of PWPW – “We suggested to the Ministry of Finance that we may create a publicly available website allowing every person interested to verify the excise tax mark placed on the packaging of a product.”

The Ministry of Finance supported this idea and decided that such a possibility will make it easier for consumers to verify the authenticity of the label bands and hence - the legality of the goods in question.” Thus the Information System on Excise Tax Label Bands (SIBA) was created.

”We want this system to also serve as a tool supporting the activities of state authorities and the owners of establishments which sell products bearing excise tax marks. We also hope that SIBA will contribute to raising social awareness and understanding of the nature and roles of excise tax band labels”, said Jacek Kapica, Vice-Minister of Finance, Chief of Customs Service.

The Information System on Excise Tax Label Bands (SIBA) is available at www.banderolaakcyzowa.pl. After filling in three fields on the page (selecting the serial number and production date of the label band which we want to verify from drop-down lists and entering its individual number), we receive information on whether a given excise tax band label is correct. In case of a negative outcome, we may suspect that we have to do with a non-authentic label band.

Furthermore, upon entering the abovementioned data, a specimen label band is shown together with indication of security devices to be checked in order to verify the authenticity of the label band. There will also be a presentation of the correct way to place the label band on the product allowing to find out whether the given product was labeled in a correct manner. Another page (“label band description") will contain specimens of all label bands used at present and descriptions of security devices (on the so-called first level, i.e. ones which may be verified without the use of specialist equipment).

SIBA will contain information which may be useful for producers and/or importers of products labeled with label bands or for persons preparing to commence such activity. These will comprise links to provisions on excise tax labels (the “legislation” page) as well as contact data of the Customs-Excise Control and Gambling Control Department at the Ministry of Finance, of customs offices relevant for excise tax labels throughout the country and of PWPW (the “contact” page). We also want the SIBA page to include a link to the taxpayer guide which is now being elaborated by the Ministry of Finance (the “system description” page).

The system page will also be available via mobile phones with Internet access.

The objectives of launching SIBA:

1. Giving all the interested parties access to information on excise tax labels, allowing to verify the authenticity and legality of excise tax labels, via the Public Website.
2. Elaborating tools which will make it easier for the citizens to verify the authenticity of excise tax labels.
3. Giving new entities easy access to legislation and complex information on the excise tax label system.

The characteristics of SIBA:

1. Intuitive, light and easy to use – a system elaborated in the Web browser version;
2. Continuous data feed from PWPW
3. Safeguarded and trusted – the transfer of information is conducted within the framework of PWPW’s internal systems covered by appropriate protection.
4. Universally available – the verification of excise tax labels is conducted online and possible both on stationary and mobile devices.
5. Thanks to the SIBA system, every user will be able to receive information concerning, among others:

• The authenticity of label bands;
• The basic characteristics and security devices of a given type of label;
• The method of labeling the product with excise tax label;
• The legislation on excise tax labels;
• The contact data of the Ministry of Finance, the customs offices relevant for excise tax label issues and of PWPW.