The Competition Authority temporarily suspended the decision on the patent price increase.
Through one notification for press, the Competition Authority (CA) informs that it has suspended the agreement signed between the General Directorate of Road Transport Services, Associations of Driving Schools and the General Directorate of Taxes.
This decision of the CA comes after the announcement of February 22, where it was said that they had started the procedures for the evaluation of this agreement based on law no. 9121/2003 "On the protection of competition"
This agreement provided for the increase of the minimum costs for the theoretical course to 30 ALL and the practical course to 55 ALL, bringing the total value of the patent to 85 ALL, which is almost double the current values.
The Competition Commission decided to take temporary measures against the signatories of the agreement, to stop the implementation of this agreement, to submit to the Competition Authority all the practices followed until the signing of the agreement, in order to evaluate it legally.
"The temporary measure is taken for a period of time until the end of the administrative procedure and the final decision of the Competition Commission", It is said in the announcement.
The agreement between DPSHTR and other parties caused a flood of registrations as well as confusion among the public.
The agreement was signed on February 14, where through a post on Facebook, the General Director of the General Directorate of Road Transport Services, Blendi Gonxhja, wrote that "cooperation between DPSHTRR, DPT, Driving schools strengthens the national barrier in the fight against speculation and competition of dishonesty, the regulation of the driving school activity market".
The news was made public through a CHRONICLE televisions in the news edition on TV Klan.
The confusion was caused after the broadcast of this chronicle and making the news public in the online media. After that, Gonxja rejected calling the news false.
Gonxja stated that "there is no increase in public fees related to the service and issuance of Driving Permits".
"The phenomenon of real estate agents who catch trainees to use Driving Schools as Nipte or for papers, without completing the learning process, avoiding courses in theory and practice, in exchange for a low but irregular payment! Unfair competition and illegality are fought", declared Gonxja on February 16.
Also, on February 23, the General Directorate of Road Transport Services, after adding the request for registration in the license course, made call to the citizens: "Do not fall prey to baseless speculations on the cost of the license course".
According to the agreement, the parties agree to increase the prices for all categories of driving licenses.
Currently, the B driving license costs from 35 to 40 Lek, and if the agreement were to come into force, this cost would be doubled.
He completed master's studies in Investigative Journalism at the Department of Journalism at the University of Tirana. She has been working as a journalist for five years, where she previously covered issues of politics and parliamentary activity, in print and online media. She is currently a journalist at Citizens.al, where she covers various social issues related to the transparency of institutions. At Citizens.al, she leads the podcast "The Unheard" and is engaged as a manager of projects related to the support of investigative journalism.
