Kosovo does not implement the obligation to exempt vehicles of EU origin from customs duties

Kosovo's budget has collected 171 million euros over the past year, only from customs duties on vehicles imported from EU countries. The acting Prime Minister has promised to remove the 10 percent tariff, but the decision has not been taken. The measure is also an obligation that Kosovo has taken upon signing the SAA.

Over 570 million euros is the value of vehicles that Kosovo imported from European Union (EU) countries last year.

And from taxes on their import, the state coffers were filled with 171 million euros, including 10 percent customs duty, excise duty, and 18 percent VAT, the amount paid by citizens who purchased vehicles.

According to official data, just for the 10 percent customs tariff, the budget has benefited over 40 million euros.

But the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has promised to remove this customs obligation upon taking office for a third term.

"The 10 percent customs duty will be removed for vehicles imported from European Union countries, which will enable lower costs for citizens to purchase vehicles," he promised.

also CHRONICLE 1th of 2026 Kosovo Customs discovers 30 thousand undeclared euros in a car in Vërmica

The reduction of customs tariffs until their complete elimination is an obligation that Kosovo undertook with the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), which entered into force on April 1, 2016.

Based on it, the removal of customs duties should take place from January 1 of the sixth year after the entry into force of the SAA, which falls three years earlier.

KOHA has been requesting a response from Customs for several days regarding the reasons for not implementing this point, but has not received a response.

Currently, new cars entering from EU countries do not pay customs duties, but only excise duty and VAT.

The Government of Kosovo has not responded to this issue either.

But, representatives of the ruling party, during the campaign for the February 9 elections, but also in those of December 28, say that the tax will be removed, simplifying the criteria for proof of origin.

"It will also be envisaged to relax the criteria regarding the declaration of origin, as we know for commonly used vehicles there has been a problem in knowing whether they have European origin or not and consequently they have not been exempted. But with the measures that we will undertake, this point will also be resolved and vehicles coming from Europe will be exempt from this tax", said Hekuran Murati, who is the acting Minister of Finance.

The same was emphasized by Hysen Durminshi, who serves as Minister of Infrastructure.

also Arberi 30 August 2026 Customs, 1.3 billion euros in revenue or about 71 million euros more compared to last year

"We will remove the 10 percent customs duty and the 10-year restriction on cars from the EU, setting gas emission criteria according to European standards," he said.

According to Customs data, since 2022, vehicles worth over 1 billion 970 million euros have been imported into Kosovo.