Trade, Croatia trying to penalize Albania

The proposition almost doubles the price that the Albanian producers should add to their goods for receiving the origin certification.

“Croatia has made a proposition for increasing Albania’s quotas from 47 to 75%. This offsets all Albanian businesses, by not allowing them to export as inward processing producers and neither as “Made in Albania”, declared the exporter Donika Mici.

Since most of the Albanian exports are based on the raw materials that come from abroad, and the VAT in the country is low, this proposition could block the foreign market for the Albanian goods, since they will be charged by EU Custom taxes without the certification of origin.

“The current value for receiving the origin of the goods is 45% within the country. With the origin we are able to compete in the market”, says Mici.

Flamur Hoxha, President of the National Chamber of the Clothing Industry says that this could be fatal for the exporting business.

But expertsn from the Ministry of Economy say that although every state has the right to make its own propositions, this doesn’t mean that they are automatically approved. According to them, the Albanian business has not been involved enough in the negotiation processes for protecting its own interests, although the Ministry of Economy has asked the business associations to present their propositions. The decision for the new quotas is expected to be taken on November.

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