TIRANA, June 22 – A United Nations report has slammed Albania’s customs scanning fees charged by a concessionaire as an illegal practice and a hidden tax on both importers and exporters.
In a report on regulatory and procedural barriers to trade in Albania, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) says the scanning fees are also being charged at locations where no scanner is actually installed.
“The contract with a private company that permits every single consignment entering or leaving Albania to be charged for notional scanning should be urgently reviewed and revised. The charges made are a hidden tax on importers and exporters, which is not based on law and, should be therefore, discontinued,” says the UN report.
Starting Sept. 2015, Albanian businesses are being charged for scanning services offered by U.S.-based Rapiscan concessionaire €22 for declarations of more than 1,000 euros with customs authorities and €5 for declarations of less than 1,000 euros. The scanning, intended to curb smuggling and tax evasion, has been made compulsory after a review of the concession contract reducing the initial 2013 tariffs.
“The fee is payable not only at the point of entry (port, airport, border crossing point), but also at the point of destination if the consignment is cleared inland. The fee is also charged even if the consignment is not scanned and at locations where no scanner is actually installed. This is an unacceptable practice. It creates an effective tax that is not based on law and should, therefore, be discontinued,” adds the report.
However, revoking the concession would have high costs for the Albanian government.
In mid-2015, the Albanian government withdrew from its decision to cancel a 15-year scanning concession in customs points reaching an out-of-court solution with U.S.-based Rapiscan Systems which was claiming $350 million in a Paris arbitration court over the unilateral cancellation of the concession.
Under the new deal, the fee for declarations of more than 1,000 euros with customs authorities was reduced to 22 euros, down from an initial 39 euros while the charge for declarations of up to 1,000 euros will be at 5 euros.
In April 2013, U.S-based Rapiscan System was awarded a 15-year concession by the former Democratic Party-led government to provide turnkey cargo and vehicle security screening services at various sites throughout the country, but the contract was suspended after fierce opposition by the business community which claimed the high tariffs would increase costs and reduce their competitiveness.
Back in late 2014, Albania’s Competition Authority recommended that the Albanian government should review the concession as running counter to Albania’s EU’s commitments and violating tender procedures.
An Albanian company, ICMS, has bought 49 percent of shares of this concession for a symbolic value, raising concerns over the transparency of the deal.
The UN report also expressed concern over informal payments representing 30 to 40 percent of the formal payments that companies report to providing to speed up the issuing of documentary requirements and customs clearance.
The amount of informal payments is not significant compared those accrued by the traders due to the lack of testing laboratories, says the report.
