On February 19 2015 Parliament passed the Law on Some Amendments and Additions to the Law on the National Registration Centre (NRC) (8/2015), as amended.

Under the new law, unless a licence or authorisation is explicitly required for a business, entities holding an NRC registration certificate can start their activities immediately.

Other amendments affect:

• the obligations and timeframe for registration;
• the registration of court decisions;
• the deregistration of entities through court decisions;
• the filing of financial statements;
• the internal organisation of the NRC; and
• the electronic portal for NRC data and extracts.

The law adds a number of entities which are specifically subject to NRC registration, including the representative offices of Albanian companies and physical persons who are not entrepreneurs, but who undertake economic activities or act as freelance professionals.

The law provides a new term for registration with the NRC. Entities must be registered within 30 calendar days of the date of constitution (as opposed to the previous 15 days), and before the effective start of activities. Any change of address or establishment of a new address must be registered within 30 calendar days of the date of the relevant decision and before the effective start of activities in the new location.

For other mandatory filings, unless the law provides otherwise, filing should take place within 30 calendar days of the date of the occurrence of the relevant circumstance or drafting of the document to be filed.

The law also formalises the procedure which allows the NRC to suspend an application and impose a penalty of Lek15,000 if any of the financial statements pertaining to preceding years (ie, since the creation of the NRC in 2007) have not been filed. Although this has only now been formalised, this procedure has already been implemented by the NRC.

The law no longer provides for the obligatory conferral of 'inactive' status on parties which fail to file financial statements. Further, it formally includes the relevant procedures for registration of court decisions and deregistration of entities through court decisions (previously, court decisions were registered with the NRC and deregistration through court decisions was effected under the Law on Entrepreneurs and Commercial Companies (9901/2008)).

The law includes a chapter covering the NRC's new electronic portal. Following electronic identification, any individual will be able to register or perform other actions – including administrative appeals – through this portal. This process will be further implemented following a decision of the minister of economic development, trade and undertakings.

For further information on this topic please contact Anisa Kuqi at Boga & Associates by telephone (+355 4225 1050) or email (akuqi@bogalaw.com). The Boga & Associates website can be accessed at www.bogalaw.com.

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