Ammon News - Finance Minister Mohamad Al-Ississ on Monday reviewed the digital tax control system to be launched by the Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD), the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The new system aims to substitute in-person tax control with digital tax control in factories producing cigarettes, beverages and hookah tobacco.

He highlighted the new system’s role in protecting national industries and ensuring that consumers obtain original products that are not counterfeit, fraudulent or smuggled.

ISTD Director General Hussam Abu Ali said that by using an integrated software, the cigarette production process will be monitored and approved, starting from the production process and ending with tracking products in markets, through placing distinctive e-stamps.

At a later stage, the system will be applied to various other products to ensure that they are produced by licensed factories in the Kingdom, he said, adding that the system is the first of its kind in the Middle East to be utilised by a governmental institution.

The system goes hand in hand with international practices related to the World Health Organisation protocol in combating illicit tobacco trade.

The finance minister also inaugurated an ISTD training hall, containing 25 computer units funded by the US Agency for International Development’s Public Financial Management and Administration (PFMA), which was designated to train ISTD employees and bolster their digital skills.