Starting from April 1st, all citizens and businesses will face a higher
price for products, due to a scanning concession in customs.
Last year, the Democratic Party majority gave the scanning monopoly to a private company named “Rapiscan”. According to the agreement, the company will receive 39 EUR for every customs declaration in Albania, for import and export. But how is this cost translated for the economy?
Top Channel refers to the official data, which show that the cost for every business will be increased by thousands of Euros each year. It will be even more difficult for businesses that exchange goods of low value. Customs processed 45.000 declarations only for four groups of products: fruits and vegetables, oil, flour and wheat, with a total value of 107 million USD.
Businesses will pay 2.5 million USD only for the scanning, which is 2.3% of the value of goods. The fee burden for imported goods will be carried by citizens. In export it hits Albanian businesses, making them less competitive in international markets by increasing the cost of products, not only in agriculture.
There will be high costs for the manufacturing business, one of the main exporting goods. Official data show that every manufacturing enterprise has finalized 200 customs declarations in average. Only for scanning, each company will pay 7800 Euro each year. But the concession has effects even beyond imports and exports, since the former government allowed the company to apply the fee in transit goods too, which will pass from Albania to other countries.
Customs had 35.000 transit declarations last year, which will now pay 1.3 million EUR for the scanning. This has raised concern among experts, who say that the concessionary agreement might make other countries stop using Albania as a route. The concessionary agreement was opposed not only by the opposition of that time, but also by business. The Albanian business and Albanian citizens will feel the costs very soon. 25 to 30 million EUR each year, for the next 25 years.
Top Channel
