TIRANA, Nov. 10 – The country’s constitutional court has given another blow to a controversial government decision in late 2015 that increased license fees on fuel and gas stations by a staggering 50-fold by cancelling it, apparently because of violating the principle of proportionality.
In December 2015, the ruling Socialist Party-led government ruled the fee on the granting and renewal of licences on oil and liquid gas stations would increase to 5 million lek (€36,000) for retail oil and gas businesses operating in the municipality of Tirana and to 2 million lek (€14,500) for other municipalities. The previous rates on the five-year licences ranged from 130,000 lek (€940) for the municipality of Tirana to 100,000 lek (€724) in Durres.
The new fees considerably affected the operation of some 1,000 fuel stations in Albania, translating into higher costs for Albanian consumers who already face one of Europe’s highest oil prices.
Albania’s fuel prices are estimated to have increased between 5 to 10 lek (€0.07)/litre this year from the new licence fees.
Luigj Aliaj, a representative of the Union of the Association of Oil companies in Albania which addressed the Constitutional Court over what they called a disproportionate hike, says the cancellation of the government decision is expected to be reflected in lower fuel prices.
Fuel prices in Albania have slightly increased in the past few weeks, reflecting slightly higher international prices.
Due to its high tax burden, at Euro 1.16/litre Albania had one of Europe’s highest oil prices this week, according to Global Petrol Prices portal.
Earlier this year, the country’s Constitutional Court also turned down a heavy fines law increasing fines on tax evasion by up to 50-fold as running counter to constitutional principles and “disproportionate” penalties to income and offences committed. The court also later cancelled as incompatible some late 2015 legal changes that set reference wages on self-employed professionals increasing social security contributions by three times.
