Albania’s New Draft-law to Facilitate Investments

TIRANA, May 8

So far, foreign investors in Albania were granted preferential treatment, but the new bill aims to ensure the same treatment to Albanian investors too.
A new draft-law ‘On Investments’ that is expected to update the existing law is discussed with stakeholders. This law, if passed, would complement the existing one conforming to international standards. Moreover, it foresees the implementation of a new investment scheme to attract new foreign and domestic investors. Further on, the upgraded law would guarantee the compatibility of the Albanian legal framework with international agreements.
The law was drafted by a working group of experts from the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA).
If passed, the law would replace both laws on Foreign Investments and Strategic Investments.
Both foreign and domestic investments will be granted equal treatment. This would guarantee transparency on all investment-related decision such as laws, regulations, court verdicts, and other procedures issued by Albanian authorities.
The draft law is expected to enter into force on January 1, 2020. A copy of the draft law in the Albanian language is available at the end of this article.

Incentives

The new bill defines four main conditions that authorities should consider when granting incentives to specific investments.
Hence incentives must:
Be drafted to achieve specific goals
Granted conforming to clear, transparent, and predefined selection criteria
Based on a cost-volume-profit analysis
Be subject to monitoring and assessment in order to guaranty fiscal stability, efficiency, and to be conforming to Albania’s international obligations.

Property

The draft-law defines that investors are entitled to land property rights as long as it is used for their investment projects and conforming to the Albanian laws on property acquisition.
Investments cannot be seized or confiscated without a final court order. They can be seized in cases when the investor fails to meet its obligations.

Strategic Investment Sectors

According to the new bill proposal, the following sectors fall under the strategic investment category:
Energy and mining
Transport
Infrastructure
Electronic communications
Urban Waste management
Tourism (the accommodation industry)
Agriculture (large farms) and fishery
Economic areas and priority development areas

News Source: Konsultimipublik.gov

The draft law in the Albanian language: Projektligj Per Investimet