Albanian Customs Directorate and State Police, with the support of the European Union, Council of Europe and German Government, launched a new awareness campaign to inform travellers about the rules on transporting money into and out of Albania.

The campaign informs travellers that they must declare cash amounts of over 10,000 EUR in value to customs when entering or leaving Albania, or risk being in breach of laws to combat illicit transportation of currency and money laundering.   

The 10,000 EUR limit is part of Albania’s efforts to secure its borders on its path to EU membership, and the campaign aims to inform citizens of their obligations.  It will be present on billboards in all Albanian border crossing points as well as information materials shared on social media. Visuals of the campaign can be found here.

At the launching event, General Director of Albanian Customs, Gent Gazheli, stressed the importance of the fight of illegal cash transportation and cash misdeclaration across border control points in Albania. 

Director of Border and Migration Department of State Police, Saimir Boshnjaku underlined that the Albanian police remains engaged to cooperate with all the Albanian law enforcement agencies and international partners in the fight against money laundering and the secure of borders.

The Head of Co-operation of the European Union Delegation to Albania Hubert Perr noted: “The EU stands with Albania on securing its borders, which is part of becoming and EU member, but also ensuring security to Albanian citizens.  This effort includes stopping the illegal transportation of cash, which is linked to money laundering and other crimes.  This campaign is very important to make sure that regular travelers are aware of the limitations, so they are not wrongfully impacted. We are also very happy to provide tools like the scanners and the K9 units to support Albanian officials in their hard and important work”.  

In her address, the Head of the Council of Europe office in Tirana, Giulia Re highlighted the two-pronged approach to supporting the national efforts against illicit cross-border transportation of cash: improving the capacities of the customs officers for effective detection of cash smuggling and increasing travellers’ awareness on their obligations to declare cash. Combined with other assistance activities against economic crime by the Council of Europe, these efforts contribute to the overall effectiveness of the response against money laundering and terrorist financing. “Thanks to the close co-operation with Customs Directorate, the joint EU/Council of Europe Action against Economic Crime in Albania and GIZ Global Program “Combating illicit financial flows” have installed informative billboards in all Albanian cross borders on the obligation of travellers entering or leaving Albania, to declare the amounts of cash exceeding 10.000 EUR. To complement this initiative, an awareness raising video will be shared on social networks” concluded Re.