Albania marks its 14 anniversary of being part of World Trade Organization

On September 8^th, 2000, Albania became officially a member of the World Trade Organization, after applying a liberal market regime. Country’s foreign trade has been liberalized since in 1900 and has been continuously following the standarts set by EU and the WTO.

For 14 years, Albania has been a member of the WTO and has applied the WTO rules on import licensing procedures. As a result of the market liberalization and the ongoing process of the harmonization of the country’s customs regulatory framework with the EU system standarts, the import and the export of merchandises, do not request particular authorization. The bilateral or multilateral agreements signed by Albania can put quotas or control demands. Also, the need for licensing exists only for some specific goods with limited circulation in the domestic market, such as military and strategic goods, radioactive substances and medicines.

After being part of WTO,  Albania committed to liberalize its tariff regime by applying a tariff reduction process, to implement all the commitments resulting from agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS),  the evaluation of Customs Code is done in accordance with WTO requirements, Albania is a member of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) since 1992 and since then, it has recognized several international agreements in this field. Als, the country is committed to implement the TRIPS Agreement and all the legislation on copyrights. Albania has signed the memorandum about the Intellectual Property Regime.

The export of goods is not subject to any special export tax, fee or other barrier. Also, the import of goods is not subject to any import duty tax except customs duty. The import of goods is subject to VAT but some products such as tobacco, alcoholic beverages and fuels are subject to excise.

News source: ATA
Photo credits: Flickr / Global Panorama