€1 Contracts, Fines for Investors that Fail to Meet Contractual Obligations

TIRANA, March 20

All the investors who sign a symbolic Euro 1 contract with the Albanian state, but fail to meet all the obligations listed in the contracts will be subject to penalties. The Council of Ministers has recently decided to apply tougher measures regarding private entrepreneurs that get Euro 1 contracts. These contracts consist of renting former state-owned properties of land for a defined period for the symbolic price of €1. The purpose of this reform was to stimulate investments and employment in specific areas throughout the country.
The Council of Ministers decided that the investor will be fined if he fails to fulfill the terms of the contract such as the investment value or the number of jobs created. Therefore, the business will be fined Lek 50,000 for every single job position that was not created. If the contract says that the subject would open 100 new jobs, but it has only 60 employees, the subject is going to be fined Lek 2 million.
In the case when the investors’ fails to provide the investment agreed in the contract, the subject will receive a fine equal to ten percent of the unrealized gain. Hence, if the contract defines an investment of Euro 1 million, but only € 800,000 has been invested, the subject will pay Euro 20,000 to the state authorities. Moreover, the subject will have six months to complete the investment otherwise the state can annul the contract.
News Source: Scan TV