Civilnet
By Siranush Adamyan
Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) spent more than $6 million on excise tax stamps in 2025 despite plans to transition to a digital product-labeling system, according to an investigation published last month by Mkrtich Karapetyan, published last month by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Armenian service (Azatutyun).
The report said Armenia had been preparing to introduce a QR-code-based labeling system to track goods such as alcohol and tobacco from production to sale, replacing traditional paper excise stamps and helping combat counterfeiting and tax evasion. The original plan was to introduce the system in January 2025.
However, the SRC withdrew its proposal to expand the digital system weeks before the intended launch, citing the need for further improvements. As a result, authorities continued using conventional stamps.
In February 2025, the SRC launched a procurement process for printing paper tax stamps. AMPG Group, a long-time supplier to the tax authority, won the tender. In March, the SRC signed a contract worth about $3.2 million for the production of roughly 315 million stamps.
The investigation reported that the company had already begun delivering the stamps in January, before the tender was announced and before any contract had been signed, raising concerns about the procurement process.
The same supplier later received additional contracts. One agreement worth roughly $900,000 covered the printing of more than 87 million stamps, while another contract worth roughly $2.1 million involved the production of roughly 213 million stamps.
In total, the SRC signed contracts worth more than $6.1 million for paper stamps in 2025 alone, according to the investigation.
The spending took place even though a digital labeling system operated by the national operator I-Mark had already completed pilot testing and was ready for broader implementation, the report says.
The procurement process also drew legal scrutiny. A Russia-registered company challenged the tender in court, claiming the technical specifications were discriminatory and designed to favor a particular supplier, though Armenian courts rejected the lawsuit.
The issue is currently being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Committee on charges of abuse of official authority and anti-competitive activities.
The State Revenue Committee told Radio Free Europe that the procurement process was transparent, while acknowledging that it maintains long-standing working relationships with the supplier.
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