Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tirana signs a cooperation agrement with The General Directorate of Customs

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tirana and the General Directorate of Customs have signed a co-operation agreement to further facilitate business procedures. During the signing ceremony, General Director of Customs, Belinda Ikonomi said that the challenges of customs in the future are divided into three main pillars: first, improving legislation to avoid abuses, secondly registering authorized operators who will benefit preferential status, and reduction of customs corruption.

“There are three main pillars where customs should focus its work. First of all, it is the improvement of the entire legal part, having as many manuals, guidelines that are transparent to the business as well, so that every procedure carried out by the business and by the side of the customs officers, is well-established so that there is no equivocation and no abuse. This is the first matter. Anther very important element that is expected to happen, and here we need your assistance, is the registration of the authorized economic operators. So it is an innovation as prescribed in the Customs Code and is a status for serious companies that benefit from the Customs in terms of trade movement. Another battle, a measure that we will continue to do our job, is precisely avoiding informality, avoiding corruption, avoiding smuggling or counterfeit goods. ”

The agreement was appreciated by the President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tirana, Mr. Nikolin Jaka, as another step towards reducing administrative and procedural barriers to business.

“Today we are in front of the fact where communications and physical contacts are almost eliminated and this has already eliminated all those subjective or non-subjective barriers, that were costs to any entrepreneur, whether in the export sector or in the import sector . So I am convinced that the agreement, the co-operation that we will sign with the General Directorate of Customs will be a further support to resolve the issues and to give business right whenever it is right. ”

The meeting between Customs and Businesses that are member of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tirana was focused on the procedures of obtaining the status of the Authorized Economic Operator and the measures to ban the entrance into the Albanian territory of counterfeit products.

At the end of the meeting, the General Director of Customs and the head of the capital’s business signed a “Memorandum of Cooperation” between the two institutions, which aims to increase the exchange of information especially in the area of customs legislation and procedures.