Definitions

1. “Customs Administration" means the central and local structures of the Albanian Customs Service that, according to their powers, are in charge of the excise duties’ administration.

2. “Excise duty" means a tax applied on manufactured and imported excise goods, that are released for consumption in the territory of the Republic of Albania.

3. “Excise products" shall mean:

• Energy products;
• Alcohol and alcoholic beverages;
• Tobacco and tobacco products;
• Other products under this Law.

4. “Authorised depositor" means a natural or legal person authorized by customs authorities in the course of his business, to produce, process, hold, receive or dispatch excise goods under the excise duties’ suspension arrangement in a tax warehouse.

5. “Suspension  customs  arrangement"  means  one  of  the  procedures  or  arrangements stipulated in the Customs Code of the Republic of Albania, which is related to customs supervision  of  non-Albanian  goods  during  their  entry  into  the  Albanian  Customs Territory, in the temporary storage, in free-circulation zones or free warehouses or in one of the arrangements provided for in that Code.

6. “Duty suspension arrangement” means an arrangement applied to the production, processing, holding or movement of excise goods not covered by a suspension customs duties’ procedure or customs suspension arrangement, which has suspended the payment of excise duties.

7. “Importation of excise goods" means the entry into the Albanian Territory of excise goods that at the time of entry were not under a "suspension customs duties’ procedure" or a "suspension  customs  arrangement" as well as their  release from a "suspension customs duties’ procedure" or "suspension customs arrangement”.

8. “Registered consignee” means a natural or legal person authorized by the customs authorities, in the course of his business and under the conditions fixed by those authorities, to receive excise goods moving under a duty suspension arrangement within the Albanian territory. This operator cannot produce, hold or dispatch goods under a duty suspension arrangement.

9. “Registered consignor" means a natural or legal person authorized by the customs authorities, in the course of his business and under the conditions fixed by those authorities, to only dispatch excise goods under a duty suspension arrangement after their release for free circulation under the relevant provisions of the Customs Code.

10. “Fiscal warehouse" means a facility, clearly separated from other premises, where the excise goods are produced, processed, held, received or dispatched under a duty suspension arrangement by an authorized depositor, in the course of his business, under conditions laid down by the customs authorities.

11. “Territory" within the meaning of this Law, shall mean the customs territory according to the relevant definition in the Customs Code of the Republic of Albania.

12. “Fiscal representative" means a natural or legal person, authorized and licensed by customs authorities, acting in the name of and on behalf of the authorized depositor, the registered consignee or the registered consignor.

13. “Debt" is the obligation on the authorized depositor, the registered consignee or consignor, the tax representative or any other person according to this Law, to pay the amount of excise duties which apply to the goods subject of excise duties.

14. “Excise Authorization" shall mean an authorization, issued by the customs authorities to a natural or legal person, by which that person, as part of his/her business, may receive, produce, hold/store or perform other operations related to excise goods in fiscal warehouses, as well as dispatch excise goods under duty suspension arrangement.

15. “Exempt user" is a natural or legal person who is granted an authorization by the customs authorities, according to which he, as part of his business and for the purposes laid down in Section 3 "Exemptions", can buy excise goods without being subject of excise duties.

16. “Excise  Stamp" means the fiscal marking of the Albanian Government, for use in accordance with this law, that will be applied on goods as listed in Annex 1, Section II and Section III, except domestically produced beer for which a Security Code will be used.

17. “Fiscal Stamp" means the marking of the Albanian Government applied to the excise goods, be that an Excise Stamp or a Security Code.

18. “Security Code" means a direct sign applied only to the beer products or other alcoholic beverages produced in Albania by large scale producers or imported by the importer authorized for this purpose by the General Directorate of Customs.

19. “Large-scale producers” are the producers defined as such by the Minister of Finance Instruction.