The State Revenue Committee (SRC) has discovered counterfeit labels on ‘Kilikia’ beer in the market. According to the SRC, the fake identification measures were affixed to 0.33-liter bottles of ‘Kilikia’ beer. The committee's employees collected these from the market, and measures of confiscation were applied to the property that constitutes a tax violation.
Earlier, based on a reader's alert, ‘Hetq’ reported that the Data Matrix codes of certain batches of ‘Kilikia’ beer were not working. It is produced by ‘Yerevan Beer’ LLC. Data Matrix codes are two-dimensional matrix codes that are affixed to each product and are more commonly known as QR codes, which replaced the previous excise stamps.
In Armenia, the Data Matrix codes are currently generated and sold to entrepreneurs by ‘I-Mark’ LLC, which is the national operator for product labeling. Every citizen can scan the code using the E-Mark application of the mentioned company and see information about the product. If the operation is successful, it means the product is circulating in the so-called “white zone,” and it is also visible to the SRC. In the examples we mentioned, this was not successful.
We raised the question of whether the unreadable codes on the product labels indicate that some of the products of ‘Yerevan Beer’ LLC are in the shadow circulation and therefore outside the tax field.
This article received responses from both the ‘Kilikia’ factory and ‘I-Mark’ company. In particular, ‘Kilikia’ claims that the digital labels on their beer bottles in the market are not readable not because they are fake, but solely due to technical issues or physical damages.
The SRC used the term “fake,” which means that the labels affixed to the beer were not genuine, and the batch or batches in question are in shadow circulation. However, the SRC has not yet clarified what volumes are being discussed.
