Terminology

Customs territory

The customs territory shall include the land territory, the territorial waters, the inland waters, and the airspace of the Republic of Albania.

Customs line and zone

1. The customs area includes the premises where the customs authorities exercise their activity, as well as all the areas where those authorities exercise control or supervision.

2. The customs areas are established at the check border crossing points as well as other points of the customs territory.

3. The establishment, territorial extension, and the classification of permanent or temporary customs areas are determined by the Council of Ministers upon proposal of the Minister of Finance according to the motivated request of the General Director of Customs, based on the increase of the number of economic operators operating in that territory and the impossibility of the existing customs zones to carry out customs procedures.

4. The customs line is constituted by the seacoast, the coasts of the bordering lakes and rivers, and the land borders with other states.

5. Goods shall cross the land border, seacost and at the airports only at the border crossing points where there are customs areas .

The extension of customs zone

1. The customs land surveillance area is constituted by the territory between the land borders line up to 10 kilometers inward. Along the coasts, this land surveillance area is established up to 5 kilometers from the coasts towards the land.

2. The sea surveillance area of customs is constituted by the sea zone from the coasts up to the external limit of the territorial waters and internal waters.

Definitions

1. "Customs authorities" mean the authorities responsible for applying customs rules, as well as other normative acts whose application is a duty of such authorities.

2. “Customs legislation" is the legal framework consisting of:

a) Conventions and international agreements ratified by the Republic of Albania;
b) Customs Code;
c) the customs tariff legislation and the combined nomenclature of goods in the Republic of Albania;
ç) bylaws acts for the implementation of this Code.

3. “Customs controls" means specific acts performed by the customs authorities in order to ensure the correct application of customs legislation and other legislation governing the entry, exit, transit, transfer, processing, storage and end-use of goods moved between the customs territory of the Republic of Albania and other territories, and the presence and movement within the customs territory of non-Albanian goods and goods placed under the end-use procedure.

4. “Person” means a natural person, a legal person and all other persons recognized by the legislation in force.

5. “Economic Operator" means a person who, in the course of his business, is involved in activities covered by customs legislation.

6. “Customs representative" means any person appointed by another person to carry out the acts and formalities required under the customs legislation in his dealings with customs authorities.

7. “Risk" means the likelihood of an event that may occur, with regard to the entry, exit, transit, transfer, processing or end-use of goods moved between the customs territory of the Republic of Albania and countries or territories outside that territory and to the presence of goods which are not Albanian goods, which would have any of the following results:

a) it would prevent the correct application of national measures of the Republic of Albania;
b) it would compromise the financial interests of the Republic of Albania;
c) it would pose a threat to the security and safety of the Republic of Albania and its residents, to human, animal or plant health, to the environment or to consumers.

8. “Customs formalities” means all the operations which must be carried out by the persons concerned and by the customs authorities in order to comply with the customs legislation.

9. “Entry summary declaration” means the act whereby, before or at the time of the event, a person informs the customs authorities, in the prescribed form and manner, that goods are to be brought in the customs territory of the Republic of Albania.

10. “Exit summary declaration" means the act whereby, before or at the time of the event, a person informs the customs authorities, in the prescribed form and manner, that goods are to be brought out of the customs territory of the Republic of Albania.

11. “Temporary storage declaration" means the act whereby a person indicates, in the prescribed form and manner, that goods are in temporary storage.

12. “Customs declaration" means the act whereby a person indicates in the prescribed form and manner a wish to place goods under a given customs procedure, with an indication, where appropriate, of any specific arrangements to be applied.

13. “Re-export declaration" means the act whereby a person indicates, in the prescribed form and manner, a wish to take non-Albanian goods, with the exception of those under the free zone procedure or in temporary storage, out of the customs territory of the Republic of Albania.

14. “Re-export notification” means the act whereby a person indicates, in the prescribed form and manner, a wish to take non-Albanian goods which are under the free zone procedure or in temporary storage out of the customs territory of the Republic of Albania.

15. “Declarant" means the person lodging a summary declaration or a temporary warhouse declaration or a entry or exit summary declaration or a re-export notification or making a customs declaration in his own name or the person in whose name such a declaration is made.

16. “Customs regime" means any of the following regimes under which goods may be placed in accordance with this Code:

a) release for free circulation;
b) special procedures;
c) export.

17. “Temporary storage” means the situation of non-Albanian goods which are temporarily stored under customs supervision during the period between their presentation to customs and their placing under a customs regime or re-export.

18. “Customs debt” means the obligation on a person to pay the amount of import or export duty which apply to specific goods under the customs legislation in force of the Republic of Albania.

19. “Debtor" means any person liable for a customs debt.

20. “Import duties” means customs duties, taxes and and other duties payable on the importation of goods.

21. “Export duties” means customs duties payable on the exportation of goods.

22. “Customs status" means the status of goods as Albanian or non-Albanian goods.

23. “Albanian goods” means goods which fall into any of the following categories:

a) goods wholly obtained or produced in the customs territory of the Republic of Albania and not incorporating goods imported from other countries or territories;

b) goods brought into the customs territory of the Republic of Albania from countries or territories outside that territory and released for free circulation;

c) goods obtained or produced in the customs territory of the Republic of Albania, either solely from goods referred to in point (b) or from goods referred to in points (a) and (b).

24. “Non-Albanian goods” means goods other than those referred to in point (23) or which have lost their customs status as Albanian goods.

25. “Risk management" means the systematic identification of risk and the implementation of all measures necessary for limiting exposure to risk. This includes activities such as collecting data and information, analysing and assessing risk, prescribing and taking action and regular monitoring and review of that process and its outcomes.

26. “Release of goods" means the act whereby the customs authorities make goods available for the purposes foreseen for the customs procedure under which they are placed.

27. “Customs supervision" means action taken in general by the customs authorities with a view to ensuring that customs legislation and, where appropriate, other provisions applicable to goods subject to such action are observed.

28. “Repayment" means the refunding of any import or export duty that has been paid.

29. “Remission" means the waiving of the obligation to pay import or export duties which have not been paid.

30. “Processed products" means goods placed under a processing regime which have undergone processing operations.

31. “Person established in the customs territory of the Rebublic of Albania” means:

a) in the case of a natural person, any person who has his habitual residence in the customs territory of the Republic of Albania;
b) in the case of a legal person or any other person recognised under national law, any person who has his registered office, central headquarters or a permanent business establishment in the customs territory of the Republic of Albania.

32. “Permanent business establishment" means a fixed place of business, where both the human and technical resources necessary are permanently present, and through which the customs related operations of an enterprise are wholly or partly carried on.

33. “Presentation of goods to customs" means the notification to the customs authorities of the arrival of goods at the customs office or at any other place designated or approved by the customs authorities and the availability of those goods for customs controls.

34. “Holder of goods" means the person who is the owner of the goods or who has a similar right of disposal over them or who has physical control of them.

35. “Holder of regime” means:
      a) the person who makes the customs declaration, or on whose behalf the customs declaration is made; or 
      b) the person to whom the rights and obligations of that person in respect of a customs procedure have been transferred.

36. “Commercial policy measures" means non-tariff measures established, as part of the commercial policy, in the form of national provisions governing international trade in goods.

37. “Processing operations" means any of the following:

a) the working of goods, including erecting or assembling them or fitting them to other goods;
b) the processing of goods;
c) the destruction of goods;
ç) the repair of goods, including restoring them and putting them in order;
d)the use of goods which are not to be found in the processed products, but which allow or facilitate the production of those products, even if they are entirely or partially used up in the process (production accessories).

38. “Rate of yield" means the quantity or percentage of processed products obtained from the processing of a given quantity of goods placed under a processing procedure.

39. “Customs office" means any office at which all or some of the formalities laid down by customs legislation may be completed.

40. “Decision" means any official act by the customs authorities pertaining to customs legislation giving a ruling on a particular case, such act having legal effects and/or legal consequences on the person or persons concerned.

41. “Carrier” means:

a) in the context of entry, the person who brings the goods, or who assumes responsibility for the carriage of the goods, into the customs territory of the Republic of Albania. However:

i) in the case of combined transportation, "carrier" means the person who operates the means of transport which, once brought into the customs territory of the Republic of Albania, moves by itself as an active means of transport;

ii) in the case of maritime or air traffic under a vessel-sharing or contracting arrangement, "carrier" means the person who concludes a contract and issues a bill of lading or air waybill for the actual carriage of the goods into the customs territory of the Republic of Albania;

b) in the context of exit, the person who takes the goods, or who assumes responsibility for the carriage of the goods, out of the customs territory of the Republic of Albania. However:

i) in the case of combined transportation, where the active means of transport leaving the customs territory of the Republic of Albania is only transporting another means of transport which, after the arrival of the active means of transport at its destination, will move by itself as an active means of transport, "carrier" means the person who will operate the means of transport which will move by itself once the means of transport leaving the customs territory of the Republic of Albania has arrived at its destination;

ii) in the case of maritime or air traffic under a vessel-sharing or contracting arrangement, "carrier" means the person who concludes a contract, and issues a bill of lading or air waybill, for the actual carriage of the goods out of the customs territory of the Republic of Albania.

42. “Buying commission” means a fee paid by an importer to an agent for representing him or her in the purchase of goods being valued.

43. “Global guarantee" is the guarantee covering the amount of the import or export duties corresponding to the customs debt in respect of two or more operations, customs declarations and customs procedures.