TIRANA, July 5 – Italy has finally scrapped a discriminatory Cold War tax on Albanian transport operators, considerably reducing costs with the country’s top trading partner across the Adriatic.
The Italian Parliament has cancelled a 1959 ordinance that charged Albanian trucks entering Italy up to Euro 9.3 per metric ton and imposed a fixed circulation tax of up to Euro 180.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, who announced a deal to the long-standing issue with his Italian counterpart Renzi since late 2014, described the tax scrap as good news for Albanian transports.
At least 800 companies with 2,500 trucks are expected to benefit from the tax scrap which was one of the key concerns for Albania’s international transports, reducing their competitiveness with regional transport operators who faced no such discriminatory tax.
The discriminatory tax had been placed since 1959 and was applied only for Albania, Syria and Iran.
Albanian road transport operators pay €9.3 per metric ton for their transports to Italy, compared to only €1 by other regional operators which is negatively affecting their competitiveness.
“The transport tax with Italy continues remaining in force and we are facing higher costs and going bankrupt. We are being discriminated against other regional countries. Now part of the companies are carrying out their transport with Macedonian or other regional trucks because they can no longer afford extra taxes,” Ilir Mataj, a representative of the International Transport Association warned earlier this year.
According to him, Italy benefits about €15 million a year from the transport tax with Albania.
Italy is Albania’s top trading partner with 50 percent of total exports and 30 percent of imports. More than 80 percent of garment and footwear products manufactured in Albania, the country’s main exports, go to Italy. According to Italy’s Confindustria lobby group, some 300 Italian companies operate in Albania, mainly in the footwear and garment manufacturing.
The long-ailing construction industry, declining exports, the high oil prices and increased tax burden have been negatively affecting the country’s transport industry during the past few years, especially road transport operators.
