Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

70 Part II: Economic instruments and financial resources2011, the annual registration tax for vehicles wasabolished, based on Law No. 10457 of 21 July 2011(amending the 2006 Law on Local Tax System) andpublished in Official Gazette No. 107. Ascompensation to local authorities, the 2011amendments stipulated that 18 per cent of revenuesgenerated by the annual tax on used vehicles wouldbe transferred to the local authorities.Fuel taxesAccording to the GIZ 2011 International Fuel Prices,which compares retail prices of diesel and gasoline inapproximately 170 countries worldwide, Albania isconsidered to be a country with very high dieseltaxation, ranking 140th. Taxation on gasoline isconsidered high by the same index – Albania ranks146th. It is not possible to assess the country’scurrent ranking due to recent changes in fueltaxation. Specifically, according to Law No. 10458(amending the 2008 Law on National Taxes)published in 2011 in Official Gazette No. 107, theannual road circulation tax for vehicles wassubstituted by a fuel tax (“circulation tax”) on petroland gasoline, set at 5 lek per litre until 21 December2011 and at 7 lek per litre thereafter.Furthermore, based on the 2008 Law on NationalTaxes, a carbon tax is applied on gasoline and petrol.The carbon tax is 0.5 lek per litre of diesel and 1 lekper litre of gasoline. This tax is applied to bothimported and domestically produced fuels. Followingthe 2011 amendments, the carbon tax on kerosene,solar and mazut is set at 3 lek per litre. Petroleumcoke is subject to a carbon tax of 3 lek per kilogram.It is not possible to assess the net impact of thesechanges, especially in light of the abolition of theroad circulation tax. In addition to the carbon tax,fuel is subject to an excise duty, which variesaccording to the fuel type, and a value added taxwhich is set at 20 per cent.Environmental tariffs and feesInformation on the level of current environmentaltariffs and fees was not possible to identify. Thecurrently applied environmental charges are listed intable 5.2. Additional fees of mostly an administrativenature include environmental expert certificate fees,professional permits fees and service tariffs.Concerning the environmental licence fess, theengagement of the regional environmental agenciesand the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and WaterAdministration for the examination and approval ofrequests for environmental licences are considered asservices to third parties and are paid as such. Thevalue of the tariff consists of the administrativeexpenses and the operations carried out by theenvironmental agencies when examining applicationsand their accompanying documentation. Theexpenses for preparing the environmental impactassessment are also paid by the applicant but they arenot included in this tariff. The tariff is paid when theapplication is submitted. It is not refundable. Tariffsare determined based on the time and resources spentduring the examination and reviewing.On the forestry fees, according to the 2009 Decision,the tariffs of timber put on sale are determined basedon the market prices but cannot be lower than theproduction costs to be calculated based on the timberbase tariffs. Reparation tariffs in case of damagescaused to the Forestry Fund also apply. Furthermore,the Decision determines the tariffs for camping’s setups,Christmas trees and seedlings sale.The 2006 Decision 547 lays out the procedures forrenting water areas for intensive aquacultureactivities. The areas to be rented are either at coastalareas, internal waters or natural lakes. The documentsto be submitted include evidence of conformity withthe environmental requirements, the technical projectand the detailed business plan.Environmental finesThere are two types of fines, those imposed by EIand those by the Forestry Police. The two arefollowing very different trajectories over time (Table5.3). On the one hand, fines imposed by EI haveincreased from approximately €205,000 in 2007 toapproximately €434,000 in 2008 and €536,000 in2009. On the other hand, fines imposed by theForestry Police have declined from almost €2.8million in 1997 to €647,000 in 2008 and €521,000 in2009. This decline has coincided with changes in theownership of forests from the State level to that ofthe LGUs (Chapter 8).The level of payment of imposed fines remainsnegligible (Table 5.3). It is characteristic that in thethree years 2007-2009, of €3.9 million worth of finesimposed by the Forest Police Service only €16,000was paid. In the same period, of €1.2 million worthof fines imposed by EI, only €28,83 was paid. Intotal, less than 1 per cent of fines were paid.There are a number of reasons for this excessivelylow level of payment. Part of the problem lies withthe existing legislation which makes possible theforgiveness of fines after one year (Chapter 2) andpart with inefficient law enforcement. Given the