Telephone Numbers
Telephone Numbers
Albania's Support for Foreign Investment and Trade Agreements
For detailed information +90 542 381 3868 'Call.
There is no distinction between domestic and foreign investors as provided for in the Commercial Companies Law No. 7638. This regulates the activities of companies and determines the type of legal structure in which companies can be established.
Albania's tax system also does not discriminate against foreign investors. Likewise, the legislation on the public procurement process makes very little distinction between foreign and domestic firms.
Law No. 9380 of 28.04.2005 covers intellectual property. It protects and enforces copyrights, patents, trademarks, stamps, marks of origin, and industrial designs. In 2000, Albania ratified the Marrakesh Agreement and became a party to the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Albania has signed the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) Convention. MIGA provides investment guarantees (i.e., political risk insurance) against certain non-commercial risks to eligible foreign investors for qualified investments in developing member countries. Along with the MIGA Convention, Albania has signed the 1958 New York Convention (on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards) and the Geneva Convention on the Execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency supported by the U.S. government, can provide insurance and project finance resources to U.S. investors in Albania. OPIC's three main activities are risk insurance, project finance, and investment funds.
Albania has been a member of the WTO since September 2000. Investors in Albania have the right to judicial protection of their investment-related rights. The parties to a dispute may agree to submit their claims to be evaluated by an arbitration institution. Foreign investors also have the right to take disputes to an Albanian court or the Arbitration Court in Tirana. Provisions regarding national and international commercial arbitration have been included in the Code of Civil Procedure.
Tax reductions and changes in bureaucratic procedures are being made to improve the investment climate in the country. a special incentive is applied for new capital investment, allowing taxpayers, regardless of their type of economic activity, to defer VAT payments on the import of machinery and equipment. The VAT payment can be deferred for up to 12 months from the date of import. For projects with an investment implementation phase longer than 12 months, the VAT deferral period is extended if the conditions set by the Albanian Ministry of Finance are met.
Favorable tax system
Double Taxation Treaties with more than 30 countries
State facilities
Investment opportunities in different key sectors:
Get Information for Opening a Company and Bank Account in Albania
The purpose of these agreements is to create a legal basis for the promotion of trade in goods and services and to lead to broader economic cooperation. Each of the parties undertakes to promote and create favorable conditions for the export or import of goods and services originating from the other party and to apply to them the same treatment it applies to its own products or merchants.
Albania has agreements in force with France, Greece, Germany, Romania, Italy, Turkey, USA, Netherlands, China, Poland, Croatia, Malaysia, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Egypt, Russia, Switzerland, Macedonia, Argentina, Uruguay, Israel, Serbia & Montenegro. An agreement with Slovenia was terminated in 2005, and an agreement with Ukraine has not yet entered into force.
Double Taxation Treaties
Albania has signed Conventions with many countries for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital, which have priority over Albanian domestic law.
The following tax treaties are in force:
Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, Greece, Malta, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Norway, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia (FYROM), Croatia, Moldova, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Kosovo (UNMIK), Turkey, Russian Federation, Malaysia, China, Egypt
Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreements
BITs are agreements that ensure investors from the respective countries receive national or most-favored-nation treatment and provide mechanisms for dispute resolution.
They are in force with:
Greece, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, USA, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, Russia, Israel, Tunisia, Egypt, China, Malaysia, Serbia & Montenegro, South Korea, Kosovo (UNMIK).
Stabilisation and Association Agreement
As a significant achievement towards EU integration, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement involves the establishment of a free trade area between Albania and the EU over a 10-year period. The SAA was ratified in April 2009 and now replaces the Interim Agreement, which is an integral part of the SAA.
On December 19, 2006, all of Albania's bilateral trade agreements with the countries of the region were transformed into a multilateral Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA 2006), covering eight countries: Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Moldova, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The main objectives of CEFTA are, among others, to expand trade in goods and services and promote investment through fair, stable, and predictable rules, to eliminate barriers to trade between the Parties, to ensure adequate protection of intellectual property rights in accordance with international standards, and to harmonize provisions on modern trade policy issues such as competition rules and state aid. It also includes clear and effective procedures for dispute resolution.
European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
In December 2009, Albania signed an FTA with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The EFTA member states are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
The Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Albania and the EFTA countries focuses on the liberalization of trade in goods. Both EFTA and Albania will abolish all customs duties on industrial products, including fish and other marine products. Bilateral arrangements on agricultural products between the individual EFTA States and Albania also form part of the instruments creating the free-trade area between both sides.
Free trade agreement with Turkey
Albania also has a Free Trade Agreement with Turkey, signed in 2006 and entered into force in May 2008. According to the agreement, no customs duties will be imposed on Albanian industrial goods exported to Turkey, and customs duties on certain Turkish products will be reduced before eventually being exempted within five years. Regarding agricultural products, the countries have granted each other tariff quotas.
Diagonal cumulation
(Based on the principle that allows the import of goods from countries whose goods of their own origin are treated as their own after undergoing a certain degree of processing). The application of diagonal cumulation between Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, and the EFTA States is provided for by the Free Trade Agreements that these countries have signed with the EFTA States.
US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Program
The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a U.S. trade program designed to support economic growth in developing countries by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 3,500 products from 128 countries, including Albania and Kosovo. The purpose of the GSP program is to give them a competitive advantage in the U.S. market.
U.S. companies and customers are particularly interested in purchasing goods through the GSP program because no export tariffs are applied upon entry into the U.S.
Many products are eligible for GSP duty-free treatment. These include most manufactured items; inputs used in manufacturing; jewelry; many types of carpets; certain agricultural and fishery products, and many types of chemicals, marble, and minerals.
The Law on Foreign Investment No. 7764 dated 02.11.1994 creates a favourable investment environment for foreign investors in Albania. It offers a range of provisions to all foreigners, whether natural or legal persons, including the following:
No sector is closed to foreign investment, and no prior state permission is required to invest.
There are no restrictions on foreign shareholdings in companies: 100% foreign-owned companies may be established.
Foreign investment may not be expropriated or directly nationalised, or
Indirectly, except in exceptional cases defined by law as being in the public interest.
Foreign investors have the right to repatriate all funds and contributions from their investments.
The most favourable treatment is provided in accordance with international agreements.
+90 542 381 3868
+971 58 5204103