Scandal/ Contraband wines on the market, dangerous for consumers

2026-04-22 09:44:00, Denoncim CNA

In many shops and bars in the center of Tirana, wines are being sold without fiscal stamps, without any assurance of their content and origin.

Wine without fiscal stamps means that companies authorized as distributors by the producer, which also bear legal responsibility, are not paying taxes and are competing unfairly. This is fiscal evasion that places responsibility on two institutions, Customs and Taxes. Wine without stamps distorts competition and any other product without a fiscal invoice shows fiscal evasion and corruption. Evasion because taxes are not paid and this distorts competition. Corruption because it shows us that Customs has allowed excise goods to enter the Albanian market without stamps.

Also, the presence of wines without fiscal stamps shows that the Tax Authorities are blind, deaf and do not enforce the law. They are either corrupt or thieves, or accomplices in this crime or should be fired for incompetence. We are not excluding the AKU in this scandal either, which looks like a charity, but by not functioning, it endangers the health of citizens.

CNA will bring in the coming days full materials with details regarding many entities that introduce goods into the Albanian market without fiscal stamps through Italy, hitting the competition, but from our investigation the scandal goes further to the introduction of counterfeit products, as a wine without a fiscal stamp and uncertified by the producer is a product without food safety, whose ingredients are unknown and undoubtedly endangers the life of the consumer.

CNA has been able to gather information that various individuals, vans, trucks, entities are bringing in contraband, as well as counterfeit products from Turkey, North Macedonia and Italy. In addition to a distorted competition in the market, in addition to the state lacking money in the coffers, the lives of citizens are at risk. This is an alarm that shows an axis of corruption, between irresponsible individuals who seek to profit by not paying taxes and risking the lives of citizens, to Customs who have lined their pockets, because it is not about 1 or 5 bottles, 2 or 10 boxes. It is about thousands of bottles from counterfeit brands. It is not just about smuggling, because that would be half the trouble, but also about counterfeit products.

The axis of corruption by irresponsible individuals goes to the "sly" customs that have allowed to pass through the border points and ends in the blindness of the tax collectors, who seem to be as thieves as the Customs. Day after day, we will show how in the ports of Vlora, Durrës, in the customs of Qafë Thana, Kapshtica or even in the Hani i Hotit BCP, thousands of bottles of smuggled wine, without fiscal stamps, are flooding towards Albania and this is not the only case with counterfeit products, including those of high quality.

This also applies to many other products, such as cigars, expensive alcoholic beverages, whiskey, gin, etc., as in the case of wines, in addition to being smuggled, they are also counterfeit./ CNA