The EU-funded Twinning project “Improving capacity of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina” saw its kick-off conference on 14 February in Banja Luka.

On this occasion, Chloe Berger, Head of Section for Justice and Home Affairs and Public Administration Reform at the EU Delegation to BiH noted the EU’s successful cooperation with the ITA in BiH over the last years.

“Through the IPA, we have financed several projects that have proved very successful and delivered a lot of positive results to improve the ITA capacities with the help of expertise from the EU”, Berger said.

Looking upon the future challenges, Berger added that “One of the main preconditions for enforcement of the new customs legislation is the electronic signature implementation. The relevant BiH authorities need to take further steps to ensure full implementation of the electronic signature as this is also one of the measures specified in the Reform Agenda”.

H.E. Martin Pammer, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to BiH highlighted Austria’s commitment for the European path of BiH.

“The key is to create a single market in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a unique economic regulatory framework. As many Austrian companies in BiH indicate, different legal and tax systems in the entities create additional costs and discourage investment”, Ambassador Pammer concluded.

Miro Džakula, ITA BiH Director General underlined the importance of the EU’s continuous support to the Indirect Taxation Authority.

“This project will assist the ITA in drafting laws and by-laws in the area of indirect taxation, namely customs, value added taxes and excise duties together with their practical implementation which are of particular importance for the country’s path toward the EU”, Dzakula stated.

The projects aims to further align customs and tax legislation of BiH with EU legislation and to strengthen the administrative and coordination capacity of the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH (ITA BiH).

The total value of the project is EUR 1 million and it will be implemented by the Agency for European Integration and Economic Development from Austria in the course of the next two years. It consists of 3 components and 10 activities in the area of indirect taxation with involvement of around 60 experts from Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Poland.