The 16th Subcommittee meeting on Trade, Industry, Customs and Taxation between the EU and Albania
The 16th Subcommittee meeting on Trade, Industry, Customs and Taxation between the EU and Albania took place on 25 & 26 November 2025 in Tirana. For the EU, representatives from the European Commission (Commission) discussed the most recent developments in these areas with the relevant Albanian authorities.
On taxation, the Commission welcomed the adoption of the Medium-Term Revenue Strategy and shared initial views on implementation of some of its measures. The Commission welcomed the efforts done in preparing draft legislation on Direct taxation, namely Directive on Administrative Cooperation 2 (DAC2), Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) and merger and acquisition directive.
The Commission highlighted serious concerns about certain measures included in the Fiscal Peace proposal, as part of 2026 fiscal package, as it might discourage tax compliance. Moreover, the EU reiterated the need for robust anti money-laundering safeguards on the proposal, and to continue engaging in the reduction of the large number of tax exemptions.
In the area of customs, the Commission welcomed progress in legislative alignment to the Customs acquis, Albania’s ongoing efforts to join the Common Transit Convention and with its participation in the EU’s Customs Program, in particular to allow the deployment of the necessary CCN gateway to connect to the EU systems. The Commission noted Albania’s international cooperation on enforcement and the ongoing efforts on measures against fraud and smuggling.
In the area of free movement of goods, the Commission encouraged Albania to complete its efforts to become a full member of the European Committee for Standardisation and of the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CEN/CENELEC) as soon as possible. The Commission also urged Albania to complete the action plan to align with the requirements of Articles 34-36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and relevant Court of Justice case law covering notably the non-harmonised areas, and accelerate its efforts to align its product legislation, including to ensure full alignment to the acquis on motors vehicles by the end of 2026.
On EU Industrial policy and SME, the Commission welcomed Albania’s update on the preparation of the National Industrial Strategy 2026–2030 and the National SME Policy 2026–2030. It stressed the importance of ensuring that these strategies are coordinated and coherent with existing documents, including the Business and Investment Development Strategy (BIDS) and the upcoming Action Plan to improve Albania’s ranking in the OECD SME Policy Index. The Commission took note of Albania’s ongoing work on a draft Law on Investments and welcomed its efforts to promote the Single Market Programme. It also noted that Albania will soon share with the Commission for review the provisions aligning with the EU Late Payment Directive.
On trade policy, the Commission noted the overall progress made by Albania in the past year in relation to meeting the closing benchmarks. The Commission took positive note of the progress made with alignment to Regulation EU 2021/821 on export control of dual use items. In addition, the Commission congratulated Albania for the progress made in relation to alignment to Regulation EU 2019/452 on screening of foreign direct investments. Albania noted that it does not currently have any planned Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with third countries.