100 per cent tax does not save goods via Pristina airline

The letter of interest for Pristina airline Belgrade is signed on January 20th in Berlin. Delegations from Pristina and Belgrade, with the mediation of American diplomats, have signed agreements with the German company, “Lufthansa”, which will operate on this line.

After signing this Letre's interest in opening this line, Kosovo and Serbia expect the deal will soon be experienced even in practice.

Eset Berisha, director of the Republic of Kosovo Civil Aviation Authority, in a conversation for Radio Free, says that with the exchange of passengers there are also luggage lines, goods and other things. How to operate and have any economic feasibility, according to him, depends on market demands and company economic requirements.

Whether company “Lufthansa”, Berisha underlines, decides that goods will be transported via airline, then all tax obligations, taxes, including 100 per cent taxes on imports from Serbia, will be implemented by Kosovo bodies.

This depends on the feasibility of the airline company, if the company finds it reasonable to start carrying goods, there is no obstacle to carrying them, as they are realised earthly. All provisions related to excises, additions, customs fees, including the tax implemented by the Government of Kosovo on Serbia's goods, will also be implemented in the air transport method”, Berisha said.

Kosovo's outgoing Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, said following the cabinet's meeting that each airline has tax bound to the airport. According to him, the tax issue mentioned in the agreement concerns the tax imposed on airports for such operations.
“In the letter of intent shown by the Kosovo side along with NATO, it is said that we don't place additional taxes besides what the airport has, so they're common to all. We give equal status, é Lufthansa, to its flights from Pristina to Belgrade or from Belgrade to Pristina without any discrimination and no longer has to do with the 100 per cent” tax, Haradinaj said.

Even former Kosovo Customs Director Naim Huruglica says that transport of goods across the airline is subject to all laws and decisions that are implemented in the Republic of Kosovo, just as road transport.

Huruglica tells Radio Free Europe, that if it is decided with the new Pristina-Belgrade airline to transport goods from Serbia, they will be subject to the 100 per cent tax the Kosovo government has decided on imported products from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Absolutely, air transport of travelers and goods is something Kosovo has been doing since the establishment of customs since 1999. The presence of customs officers is complete there during 24 hours and is worth the same legislation as for goods transported through air flights or road transport. It means there's no gap”, Huruglica points out.

I don't see any difference here. If a measure applied to goods of origin from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is being implemented and is in force, the same will be true for flights”, he says.

Kosovo authorities have taxed 100 percent of products imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of 2018.

Despite calls from the European Union and the United States for its removal, it continues to remain in force.

As a result, dialogue on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia has also been interrupted.

Even after the signing of the letter that interest in the establishment of the Pristina airline Belgrade, as in the mode of driving through road transport, even in air transport access from the state of Kosovo to Serbia and vice versa, will be realised only with ID. Such a form is regulated with the agreement reached in Brussels for free movement between Pristina and Belgrade, signed in July 2011.

The Republic of Serbia still does not recognise Kosovo's citizenship, hence even passports issued by the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo.