TIRANA, Oct 9 /ATA/Shkodra hosted the Business-Customs Forum, which revolved around streamlining of procedures and digitization of customs services.
General Director of Customs, Genti Gazheli, emphasized in his remarks that the approach to business has completely changed, pointing out that the main mission of the Customs Directorate is to ensure transparent customs procedures aimed at collecting revenue for the state budget.
“In these years, we have completely changed our approach to business following the philosophy that customs administration is an institution that serves business and has the primary mission of ensuring transparent and predictable customs procedures aimed at collecting revenue for the state budget, while maintaining the balance between easing procedures and customs controls,” he stated.
According to Gazheli, the development of technological systems is an ongoing process aimed at improvement.
“The data from the system show that we have achieved a significant reduction in the processing time of declarations across all risk channels, while the assessments of transactions have improved significantly, reaching 97% for the January-August period, the highest figure for transaction usage,” Gazheli continued.
He invited businesses to apply for the Authorized Economic Operator and Authorized Exporter status, which is granted to reliable businesses that can benefit from simplified customs procedures.
Businesses, for their part, appreciated the improvement of customs procedures and the introduction of new applications that allow real-time access, providing transparent visibility into every phase of the approval of applications, simplifications, tax exemptions, and more.
Albania voted in December 2023 for the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Preferential Rules of Origin.
According to the convention voted on today, starting from January 1, 2025, the certificate of origin for goods will be issued electronically with a digital signature, reducing time and costs for businesses regarding the origin of goods for both imports and exports.
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