A recent government decision charges international air, land and sea passenger transport companies with a fee of 200 lek per passenger for transmitting ticket data to the Passenger Intelligence Unit (SIU) system, which will be managed by the General Directorate of Police.
Considering that, according to INSTAT, in 2024 12.3 million domestic and foreign passengers entered and exited by air and sea, it is estimated that passenger airline and maritime companies alone will start paying the Albanian state about 25 million euros per year or almost 2.1 million euros per month in fees for transmitting passenger data.
This does not include entries and exits to the land system via international passenger transport lines. It is up to the companies whether they will transfer this additional cost of 200 lek per passenger into the ticket price or keep it themselves.
The obligation to transmit data is defined in the law “On the processing of travel information in the Republic of Albania” adopted by the Albanian Parliament on 26 June 2025. The law is aligned with Directive 2004/82/EC of the European Council of 29 April 2004, “On the obligation to transmit passenger data.
According to the approved law, all entities licensed to transport passengers by land, air and sea will enter detailed passenger information from ticket reservations into a unified system called the Passenger Intelligence Sector (SIU). The system will be managed by the General Directorate of Police.
The law specifies in detail that every carrier, meaning licensed operators for the 3 types of passenger transport, including air, water and land, will transmit passenger travel data to the SIU at least 3 times a day.
Passenger data will include first and last name, date of reservation and ticket issuance, email address and phone number, baggage information, method of payment for the ticket, check-in status, no-show for check-in where there is a ticket without a reservation, etc.
All this data from airlines, sea and road passenger transport companies will be sent to the Travel Intelligence Sector 24 to 48 hours before the departure of the trip. Passenger data will then be sent 60 and 180 minutes before the departure of the aircraft, while water and road vehicles will only be sent 60 minutes before departure.
Thirdly, passenger data will be transmitted after boarding procedures have been completed and passengers' travel documents cannot be changed.
The law stipulates that the carrier or its economic operator, who sends data to the SIU data processing systems, pays a fee for this purpose, which is determined by decision of the Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers, with the decision adopted at the last meeting, which has already entered into force with the publication in the Official Gazette, has determined that this fee will be 200 lek per passenger. So it will be private companies that will pay a fee of 200 lek for each passenger they have transported entering and leaving Albania in the previous month.
The fee for the transmission of travel information, for one year from the entry into force of this decision, is 200 (two hundred) lek per passenger. After the first year, the fee value is reviewed and set at a fixed value, reviewable every 3 (three) years.
Monitor contacted the Ministry of Interior to clarify who will pay this fee and the reasons for the data transmission. The Ministry of Interior explained that the fee will be paid by the companies and serves for the transmission and maintenance of data in the SIU, a necessary system for the Albanian state to prevent criminal phenomena.
"The fee for the transmission of passenger information, provided for in Law 38/2025 "On the processing of travel information in the Republic of Albania", is paid by carriers (air, sea, land transport companies) for each passenger, and serves to cover the technical costs for the data transmission process, which is necessary for the Albanian state, as it helps in: Identifying previously unknown risks or threats to security; detecting or tracking international criminal networks or activities; other risks to border security; as well as identifying and stopping international criminals and other threats during border crossings."
The EU covers it itself, in Albania will this cost be transferred to the ticket price?
The data, as defined in the law, will be stored for up to 5 years in the SIU system, which is managed by the General Directorate of Police and serves security purposes, but since this fee will be paid by the carrier, will there be an additional cost to the passenger ticket?
Through this law, the government aims to collect ticket data of passengers entering and leaving Albania on an intelligent server, in a system where the cost of transmission will be covered by the fees that companies will pay for each passenger they have transported entering and leaving Albania.
In the European Union, passenger companies have an obligation to transmit data, but data transmission is a fee-free obligation, and the costs are covered by the state or EU funds.
Experience has shown that any additional costs imposed on companies are normally passed on by the latter in fares to passengers./ Monitor
