AmCham organizes Business Forum with Customs Directorate.

The American Chamber of Commerce held its annual meeting with the Customs Director and other representatives on February 10^th, 2016, continuing the tradition of facilitating open discussion between business and customs authorities to nurture a stable working relationship between them. In his opening remarks, the President of AmCham, Mr. Mark Crawford, expressed his appreciation for the continued cooperation with Customs, evident in recent actions with which Customs leaders showed their readiness to take quick actions to address concerns expressed by businesses importing from the United States.

During the meeting, AmCham Board member, Ms. Alketa Uruçi, listed some of the concerns that the Chamber has received from its members, including the negative effects of using reference prices, related VAT reimbursement problems that arise from application of those prices, and limits placed on hours of operation for exports.

The General Director of Customs, Ms. Pranvera Fagu, listened carefully to all the concerns raised by the American Chamber and addressed several of them. She pointed out that in 2015 only 11% of imports cleared customs using reference prices, and the Customs administration is working to lower this percentage in 2016. During this year, they also intend to bring online the electronic database that will offer complete information for businesses.

Another novelty for 2016 is the electronic customs declaration that will be enabled by the online portal. All these innovations aim to improve the quality of service for business, to make procedures easier, and lower costs for business.

During the rest of the meeting, AmCham members discussed openly the concerns they have encountered during their work with Customs and received explanations from the relevant directors and technical experts of the Customs administration.