Secretariat of Investment Council discusses in a Focus Group Meeting preliminary findings on the Facilitation of Customs Procedures
- April 25, 2017
On 20 April 2017, the IC Secretariat held a technical consultation meeting with experts in the area of customs and business representatives in the framework of the preliminary findings “On Customs Procedures” to be presented at the upcoming IC Meeting of 9 May 2017.
Attended the meeting representatives from public institutions such Ministry of Finance, General Directorate of Customs, as well as experts in the area from reputable consulting firms, Association of Exporting Businesses, Confindustria Albania, Chamber of Commerce Tirana, Association of the “Trade Union of Albania”, DIHA, etc.
The objective of the Meeting was the discussion of the preliminary findings of the Secretariat, based on the analysis of main documents on the progress of the customs procedures, as well as on the consultations held with the business either directly or through comments arrived via IC website. During this preliminary phase, the Secretariat has made a research work (desk-research) of the strategies, laws/acts, sub-acts, international papers (by OECD, EU, CEFTA, WB, etc.), and consulted with structured questions over 24 stakeholders (businesses, associations, chambers of commerce, public institutions, experts, etc.).
Some problems raised during the meeting were mainly related to the uneven implementation of the reference prices, tariff classification, the efficiency of physical inspections, etc. Some recommendations were made also by the specialists on the facilitation of customs procedures, such as the broad implementation of transaction value, recognition by the tax administration of the reference price for VAT recoverable purposes, the possibility to self-correct customs declarations whenever such activity does not give any financial effects, etc.
During the meeting, it was agreed that the Secretariat will reflect the stakeholders’ comments in the consolidated material to be presented at the IC Meeting to be held on 9 May 2017 and monitor implementation of the respective recommendations.
