With sponsorship of Eurocustoms, a WCO National Workshop on the modernization of the Customs Laboratory in Albania was held in the Laboratory in Tirana, from 3 to 6 April 2017.

During the opening of the Workshop, the Director of the Customs Laboratory, Mr. Arber Misja, thanked the representatives from the Spanish Customs Administrations and from the WCO Secretariat's Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate for facilitating the discussions on the modernization of Albania’s Customs Laboratory.  He referred to the importance of a Customs Laboratory for the correct and uniform classification of commodities in the HS and in the national Customs tariff and for the well-functioning of the Albanian Customs Administration.

Albania’s Customs Laboratory is a well-equipped medium-sized laboratory that will soon be relocated to a new modern building. Several topics related to the WCO vision on the future of Customs Laboratories were addressed and the participants were also thoroughly informed about several databases and documentation specifically designed for the day to day routine in a Customs Laboratory.

During the Workshop, a wide range of quality assurance and accreditation matters were addressed and the participants attending the Workshop were also thoroughly informed about the procedures for the validation of analytical methods and about the fundamental principles and practicalities of the ISO 17025 standard.

Present at the closing ceremony, Dr. Maria Jose Reyes, from the Customs Laboratory of Madrid, Spain, emphasized the importance of the quality assurance for the correct functioning of a modern Customs Laboratory.