At its session held on 4 February, the Committee on Kosovo and Metohia of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia discussed the introduction of customs at the administrative border with Kosovo and Metohia.

The Committee on Kosovo and Metohia requested the Ministry of Finance of the Government of the Republic of Serbia to draft and submit to the Government a proposal for amending and modifying the Decree on implementing the Act on Value Added Tax on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohia during the application of Resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council to provide for the transfer of control of trade in goods originating in Kosovo and Metohia from customs authorities to tax bodies. All provisions referring to customs control of goods originating in Kosovo and Metohia must be deleted from the Decree.

Committee members advised the Government that customs posts at administrative border crossings with Kosovo and Metohia should control and inspect only goods of foreign origin, as they did before the new Decree came into force. Trade in goods of domestic origin should be returned to the competence of tax bodies, while control at administrative border crossings should be performed by the financial police and units of the Ministry of the Interior, in order to prevent illicit trade across the administrative border.

The Committee on Kosovo and Metohia suggests that registered taxpayers possessing a tax identification number residing in Kosovo and Metohia should be included in the register of VAT taxpayers, in order for them to be able to do business on the territory of the Republic of Serbia outside Kosovo and Metohia.