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Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade in Albania Needs Assessment

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Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade in Albania Needs Assessment UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade in Albania Needs Assessment UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade in the Republic of Albania: Needs Assessment United Nations New York and Geneva, 2016 2 Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade in the Republic of Albania: Needs Assessment Note The designation employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers of boundaries. This study is issued in Albanian and English. ECE/TRADE/427 Copyright © 2016 United Nations All rights reserved Foreword 3 Foreword An upper-middle income country, Albania is in the process of implementing an all-encompassing reform effort to foster national competitiveness and achieve greater integration into global value chains. Driving these reforms is the imperative for fulfilling the requirements of the European Union (EU) Acquis Com- munautaire, which gained new life in 2014 when Albania obtained the candidate status for EU membership. Trade has been at the centre of reforms to support the consolidation of new growth poles that would allow for achieving growth with equity through greater specialization in dynamic products with high value-added. These reforms accord priority to removing regulatory and procedural trade barriers, which, by inflating trans- action costs, have been undermining employment generation and overall competitiveness in domestic and global markets. It is against this background that this study was undertaken. The Government was facing increased devel- opment challenges, which were as far reaching as the ambitious reform targets the Government committed to attain. These challenges were complicated by the difficult environment that Albania was labouring under, whereby demand and investment were dampened by the sluggish growth in the Eurozone and beyond, there- by setting the limits to trickle-down effect of reforms. This study is a contribution to Albania’s trade development efforts. It provides action-oriented recommen- dations, which draw on extensive primary information collected during face-to-face interviews using UNECE evaluation methodology and consultations with public and private stakeholders. It takes into account the writ- ten comments of national stakeholders, submitted to the UNECE in May-June 2016. The recommendations are geared to complement Albania’s development strategies, including: the National Plan for European Integration for the period 2014-2016; the Inter-sectoral Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development in Albania for the period 2014-2020; and, Business and Investment Development Strategy for the period 2014-2020.The recommendations will also be integrated into the United Nations Delivering as One processes in the country, with a view to informing technical assistance activities by UN agencies and develop- ment partners. Christian Friis Bach Milva Ekonomi Executive Secretary and Minister of Economic Development, Under-Secretary-General Tourism, Trade and Entrepreneurship United Nations Economic of the Republic of Albania Commission for Europe 4 Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade in the Republic of Albania: Needs Assessment Acknowledgments This study is the sixth in a series of national assessments of regulatory and procedural barriers to trade in the UNECE region. It was prepared by Ms. Hana Daoudi under the guidance of Mr. Mika Vepsäläinen. The UNECE would like to acknowledge the contribution of Ms. Mariela Stefanllari, President of the Human Environment Culture (HEC) Foundation, for supervising the team of national consultants who conducted the face-to-face interviews with traders and for providing logistical and substantive support throughout the business process analysis. The UNECE would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the following consultants who carried out face-to-face interviews with relevant stakeholders and summarised the results of the interviews in background reports that were used for preparing this study: Mr. Chris Page who conducted face-to-face interviews with State agencies responsible for trade facilitation as well as some private sector stakeholders; and, Ms. Nozigul Khushvakhtova, who carried out the Business Process Analysis. The UNECE would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Karen Azaryan who conducting face-to-face interviews with agencies responsible for Standardization, Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology and compiled the interview transcripts in a background document. The UNECE would like to thank the international polling institution, SATISCAN Sàrl, that designed an electronic database for compiling the results of the face-to-face interviews with traders; provided on the job training to the national team of experts who conducted the interviews; and, conducted the data validation and reconcili- ation of the results generated from the interviews. Special thanks also go to Mr. Andy Henson from the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures and Mr. Ian Dunmill from the International Bureau of Legal Metrology for reviewing the relevant sections on the country’s metrology system and for their comments, which were inte- grated into section 4.6. The UNECE would like to extend its gratitude to the Ministry of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade and Entrepreneurship; the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Resources; and, the General Directorate of Customs for providing undivided attention and support to the secretariat throughout the assessment. Contents 5 Contents Foreword ......................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations ................................................................................................. 8 List of recommendations .............................................................................. 14 Chapter One .................................................................................................... 27 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 1.1 Country background ............................................................................................................................. 27 1.2 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................ 35 1.2.2 Analytical frameworks ........................................................................................................................... 36 1.2.1 Concepts and terminologies .............................................................................................................. 38 1.3 Scope of the study .................................................................................................................................. 38 1.4 Outline of the study ............................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter Two .................................................................................................... 41 Traders Profile ....................................................................................................................................................... 41 2.1 Location, size and activities ................................................................................................................. 41 2.2 Export-import mix and trading partners ........................................................................................ 42 2.3 Transport modes of choice .................................................................................................................. 45 Chapter Three ................................................................................................. 47 Trade Facilitation Conditions .......................................................................................................................... 47 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 47 3.2 Transparency ............................................................................................................................................ 50 3.3 Documentary requirements and use of electronic documents ............................................. 56 3.4 At the border control ............................................................................................................................. 64 3.5 Transport infrastructure and logistic services .............................................................................. 78 3.6 Regional cooperation and transit trade .......................................................................................... 82 Chapter Four ................................................................................................... 87 Regulatory and standardization policies ...................................................................................................
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