Newspaper Informatori Doganor, 2 of June 2008

CONTINUATION OF EU ASSITANCE TO UNMIK CUSTOMS SERVICE AND KOSOVO TAX ADMINISTRATION - TACTA In March 2008, the TACTA project - Technical Assistance to Customs and Tax Administration started its activities in support of the UNMIK Customs Service (UCS) and the Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK). The project, funded by the EU in the framework of the EU assistance to Kosovo, continues the work, which until December 2007 was performed by CAFAO. TACTA assists beneficiaries in the establishment of well-functioning and accountable Customs and Tax Administrations, and in their efforts to raise revenues, fight organized crime, and develop good trade relations with the Western Balkan Region as well as with the European market, with the ultimate goal to support Kosovo in achieving future EU integration.

The project is implemented by the International Technical Assistance to Customs and Tax Administration ITACA consortium lead by Italian Customs Administration (Agenzia delle Dogane), which draws on the close cooperation with some of the EU Member States Customs and Tax Administrations - members of the ITACA consortium , thus ensuring the highest quality assistance to the Kosovo beneficiary administrations. In the course of the project implementation several international experts will provide assistance to the UNMIK Customs Service in the following areas: Customs Laboratory, Enforcement Sector, IT and Customs Legislation and Procedure. The assistance will include design and delivery of training, mentoring of UCS officers and drafting of proposals in line with the EU best practices. Customs Laboratory TACTA will support the achievement of the required standards for the establishment of the Customs Laboratory in Kosovo. With the initial support of the Italian Customs Administration (Agenzia delle Dogane) and with the assistance of the TACTA expert, UCS will be able to establish and efficiently operate its Customs Laboratory. TACTA expert will further design and deliver training on analytical methods for the control of goods for customs purposes. Enforcement TACTA continues the assistance to the already established and efficient Enforcement Sector of the UNMIK Customs Service by providing the following: IT TACTA assists the UCS in the implementation of the EU standards in the IT sector. Specifically, TACTA expert will assess the needs for the alignment of the IT systems to the EU standards along with the required standards for open government and security. This activity also aims to provide UCS with the key information required to define the long-term IT strategy. TACTA expert will further assist UCS in identifying opportunities for improving the existing IT systems. Legislation and procedures developing its capacity to fight against violations of the recently approved Law on Intellectual Property Rights, updating its risk assessment and selectivity system, improving its intelligence infrastructure, providing advice for identifying opportunity to improve intelligence tools, supporting further development of the IBM system, and providing assistance to enhance post clearance and audit procedure capacity (the latter starting in September 2008).

TACTA will continue supporting the alignment of Kosovo Customs Legislation to the acquis communautaire. TACTA expert will carry out an in-depth examination of current customs legislation and procedures against the EU Customs Blueprints, as recently updated, in order to identify possible gaps with EU standards. This activity also aims to identify any inconsistencies, duplications and inefficiencies of the current Kosovo customs legislation.

TACTA Customs Team Currently the Customs Team is composed by three international long term experts. Four additional experts will join the team in the course of the project implementation. Most of the experts have previous working experience in the Balkan area and they will coordinate their activities with other EU projects and experts in order to provide a multi disciplinary approach for the assistance on customs issues. TACTA support will continue until the end of January 2009. TACTA organizational chart:

Team Leader

Deputy Team Leader

Customs Sector Enforcement sector Customs Laboratory

Customs Procedures

Tax Sector Information Technology Tax enforced collection Tax Governance & Internal Audit Tax Legislation and Procedures

Intelligence Intellectual Property Rights IBM & Risk Analysis Post clearance audit Investigation