Processes for labelling alcohols and cigarettes with hologram sticker are in the final stage, according to reports.

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has received the first consignment of stickers from overseas printers – Perum Perumnas of Indonesia – on Saturday and others would arrive very soon, Kantipur daily quoted Rana Bahadur Shrestha, acting director general of the department, as saying.

The company was given the contract of printing stickers and supplying a total of 800 million stickers within a year. IRD received 300 million stickers on Saturday.

These excise stickers have been ordered in 16 different types. Each type would categorise the specific strength of liquor and sizes of bottles.

However, the department has not mentioned when it would start the labelling process. Enforcement of the new provision may be delayed as the department is yet to give specification of labelling to concerned business companies.

A meeting between the department officials and businessmen scheduled for February 27 is expected to finalise the specification and criteria of labelling that the manufacturers need to meet.

The government had announced to label liquors with such stickers in last year’s budget announcement. Accordingly, the department had last year asked the manufacturers to set up a machine in their plants for that purpose. However, the manufacturers have been deferring the installation of plants, seeking specification of stickers.

The government has said the exercise was devised after a study revealed that the existing system of labelling excise stickers on cartons have made it easy for manufacturers to evade taxes. The Ministry of Finance estimates that revenue leakage in liquor industry is about 40 percent.