Every morning, hundreds of restaurants and cafés set out tables outside. Hundreds of advertising signs light up the storefronts and sidewalks. Street vendors set up their tents in squares and streets. And almost no one knows for sure under what legal regulations they do this.
This is not negligence. It is a consequence of the law. The previous framework, adopted in December 2015, had fallen behind economic reality and did not cover entire categories of activities. Municipalities had filled the gap with their own regulations, often different from one another and not always coherent. The result was uncertainty: businesses weren't sure what the rules allowed, and authorities lacked clear criteria for enforcement.
Decision No. 224, dated April 1, 2026, of the Council of Ministers, closes this gap. It establishes unified rules, conditions, and procedures for the entire territory of the country. It is not merely an administrative act. It is the new legal framework on which every relationship between business and public space will be built in the years to come.
What exactly does it provide for, which activities does it affect, how much does it cost, and what changes in practice are the questions we address in this article.
What Is Being Replaced and Why This Decision Was Necessary
The previous framework and its limitations
The decision annuls Decision No. 1096, dated December 28, 2015, which was the first and only national act in the field of public space management. For over a decade it served as the sole framework, but over the years it had begun to show its limitations.
The 2015 decision had covered the basics, the concept of public space, the principles of administration, and some general rules. But it did not provide detailed procedures by activity category, did not address modern advertising structures such as LED panels or City Light, and did not establish any link to national electronic registers. Municipalities, working within this incomplete framework, had drafted their own local regulations, sometimes incompatible with one another.
What does the new decision bring?
The new decision It intervenes precisely here. It does not replace local regulations, but sets the national minimum standards on which every municipality must build. It is the legal framework within which any new local regulation will operate from now on.
The decision has been adopted in accordance with and under the provisions of Law No. 107/2014 “On the planning and development of territory”, as amended by Law No. 41/2024. Article 4(1) of that law had mandated the Council of Ministers to regulate by decision the conditions and procedures for the use of public spaces.
Context is important for another reason as well. Albania is in the midst of the European integration process and simultaneously in a phase of deepening decentralization reforms. The standardization of public spaces is part of this agenda: transparency, digital procedures, and verifiable oversight. The 2026 decision is also a step in that direction.
Who Touches and Who Administers
Scope of application
Before we delve into the procedures and costs, it must be clearly understood what the scope of the decision is. Not every open space is “public space” within the meaning of this act.
The decision applies to publicly owned public spaces administered by local government units, as well as to spaces owned by central public institutions. It also applies to privately owned spaces that are publicly accessible when they are maintained or administered with public funds. Sidewalks, squares, parks, beaches, and roads are typical examples.
Administrative competence
The chief administrative authority is the mayor, who approves permits for up to one year. Licenses with a term of more than one year but not exceeding five years are approved by the Municipal Council. This division of competencies is not coincidental: the short-term license covers the seasonal and annual needs of commercial activity, while the long-term license requires the institutional involvement of a collegial body.
Administrative violations are handled in accordance with Law No. 107/2014 “On the planning and development of territory” and the Law No. 10 279/2010 “On Administrative Offenses"“The municipal police and inspection agencies have the authority to enforce the measures.
Every time there is a tax or financial change that affects your business, we notify you directly by email with a practical explanation.
Send me free notificationsPermission Procedure: Step by Step
Any use of public space for economic purposes requires a permit issued by the municipality. Applications are submitted through the e-Albania portal.
Required documentation
Basic documentation includes the application form, the layout plan showing the existing and proposed conditions, the floor plan signed by a licensed designer, photographs of the current condition, graphic renderings of the project, the property title deed or lease agreement, The entity's NIPT and proof of tax payment.
Phases and deadlines
The procedure is carried out in two phases. Within seven calendar days of submission, the municipality reviews the documentation and notifies any deficiencies. After the complete file is submitted, the final decision is made within fifteen calendar days. Once the permit is approved, the municipality issues the official document with which the applicant pays the fee.
License Conditions
The permit is personal and nontransferable. It cannot be transferred to another entity, even if that entity is owned by the permit holder. It must be displayed in a conspicuous place to the public, together with the approved layout plan. Failure to obtain a permit or exceeding its conditions carries documented consequences: a fine, suspension of activity, and a ban on reapplying for up to two years.
The permit has a maximum one-year validity for standard permits and may be seasonal, but never shorter than three months. Renewal is not automatic and must be requested at least three months before the existing permit expires, following verification of compliance with previous conditions and settlement of all obligations.
How Much It Costs: Occupancy Fee and Connection to Other Local Taxes
How is the fee calculated?
The fee for occupying public space is a local tax provided for in Law No. 9632, dated October 30, 2006, “On the Local Tax System,” as amended. This law establishes the national framework, but the specific level is set by each Municipal Council with a separate annual decision. This means that the fee varies from municipality to municipality and, within each municipality, from zone to zone.
The parameters on which the fee is calculated are three. The first is the occupied area, expressed in square meters. The second is the city zone, since shopping centers pay higher fees than peripheral areas. The third is the nature and duration of the activity. Businesses with a term of more than one year set the fee by contract.
By law, revenue from the fee is exclusively allocated to the maintenance, rehabilitation, and improvement of public spaces. The municipality is required to publish an annual report on its expenditures.
Link to other local taxes
The public space occupation fee and the advertising sign tax are two separate and complementary obligations. The sign tax existed even before this decision and remains an autonomous obligation calculated based on the sign's surface area and type. A business that places a physical advertising structure in public space is subject to both at the same time. A business that has a sign on the façade of its own private building, but that façade borders public space, also has a permit obligation under the new decision.
Financial guarantee
In addition to the fee, certain categories of activities are required to deposit a financial guarantee before obtaining the permit. This guarantee is enforced if the entity does not return the space to its original condition or causes damage while conducting the activity. The amount and terms are determined by the municipality on a case-by-case basis, depending on the nature and scope of the activity.
Read also: Local Taxes in Albania: What Your Business Pays and When
Gastronomy Activity: Outdoor Tables and Technical Regulations
Restaurants or cafés with outdoor tables are perhaps the category that encompasses the largest number of existing businesses. And precisely for this reason, the decision addresses it with a detailed technical regulation.
What is allowed and what is forbidden
Tables, chairs, menu boards, portable tents, and, if certified to the relevant standards, small children's play equipment are permitted. Hard or fixed structures, perimeter barriers, planters, platforms, or mats on sidewalk surfaces are not allowed. Fridges, suction hoses, and any technical elements must be integrated within the structure.
Spatial boundaries
It is permitted to use up to thirty percent of the sidewalk's width. However, this restriction also has an independent condition: regardless of the calculation, there must always remain at least two hundred centimeters of free space for pedestrian movement. If the sidewalk is narrow, this second condition is decisive. In squares, the activity may not exceed thirty percent of the depth and no more than ten meters in length.
Maintenance and return obligations
The permit holder also has the obligation of active maintenance, daily cleaning, and upkeep of the area within five meters of the boundary of the authorized zone. Any damage caused to the public space will be billed to the permit holder. If the permit expires or is revoked, the space must be restored to its original condition within five calendar days. The Municipal Police may intervene immediately, without waiting for that period, if the activity obstructs traffic or poses a risk to public safety.
The obligation to green
A new obligation specific to the gastronomic category: every establishment with tables and seating in public space must sign a notarized declaration committing to plant one tree for each table, in accordance with municipal conditions. It is a mandatory requirement of the application documentation.
Street Markets and Takeout Sales
After the food service activity, the second category with broad impact is that of street vending and markets. Here too, the decision brings a complete and new regulation.
Surface, equipment, and dimensions
Any street trading activity requires an individual license. The license is personal and non-transferable even within this category. The municipality pre-designates the areas where street trading is permitted and establishes the organizational framework, specifying who may trade, the dimensions of the stalls, and the applicable rules.
The maximum surface area for each vendor is six square meters within organized markets and four square meters for ambulant activity outside markets. Permitted equipment includes dismantlable stands, portable carts, trade bicycles, and tents without permanent anchoring. The height of display stands may not exceed ninety centimeters, while tents may reach up to two hundred twenty centimeters.
Mandatory minimum distances
Minimum distances are two meters from the entrances of residences and institutions, five meters from hospital emergency and fire department entrances, three meters from any road intersection, and ten meters from cultural monuments. Street vending near schools and hospitals requires the approval of the relevant institution.
Additional obligations for food products
Food product vendors have additional obligations: a hygiene-sanitation certificate and a health booklet for each employee. Equipment and display stands may not be left in place outside authorized hours.
Fairs: New Rule with a Specific Timeframe
Fairs share with street markets a temporary nature, but they are regulated differently and with special attention to public safety.
Deadlines and documentation
The maximum allowed duration for any fair is thirty calendar days. The application must be submitted at least forty-five days before the planned start date. This deadline is not a formality; the fair permit requires a technical assessment and, when there is competition among applicants, a scoring process.
The necessary documentation is comprehensive, Detailed layout plan with booth locations and aisles, floor plan, three-dimensional renderings, technical project signed by a licensed designer, list of exhibitors, security and evacuation plan, waste management plan, and, for food fairs, a hygiene and sanitation certificate.
The evaluation process when there is competition
If two or more organizers apply for the same venue and period, the municipality establishes an evaluation committee that makes decisions based on pre-approved criteria. Public safety, aesthetics, and cultural and social impact are assessed. The decision is formalized in a minutes.
The minimum free aisle width during the fair is three hundred centimeters. The organizer must have mandatory civil liability insurance. After closing, basic cleaning must be completed within one hour and full cleaning within four hours, but no later than 6:00 AM the following day.
Fee according to the type of fair
The fee varies by type. Commercial fairs pay the full fee; cultural, artisanal, and social fairs enjoy a reduced fee as decided by the Municipal Council; fairs organized directly by the municipality and public institutions are exempt from the fee.
Every time there is a tax or financial change that affects your business, we notify you directly by email with a practical explanation.
Send me free notificationsAdvertising Structures: City Lights, LEDs, and Façade Signboards
Advertising is perhaps the category with the most detailed technical regulation in the entire ordinance. Advertising structures directly affect road safety, urban aesthetics, and the city's visual perception, so their treatment differs from that of other categories.
City Light structures and LED panels
City Light structures have dimensions: a maximum width of 120 centimeters and a maximum height of 220 centimeters. LED panels may have an area of up to six square meters. The maximum permitted illumination is 300 candelas per square meter at night and 5,000 candelas per square meter during the day. Image changes should not occur more frequently than every eight to ten seconds.
Distances are a minimum of two hundred centimeters from the sidewalk, twenty meters from any road intersection, five meters from the entrances of public buildings and transport stations, and five hundred meters between two structures of the same type. Installation is only permitted at locations predetermined by the municipality through the site plan. It is not allowed near cultural monuments, protected areas, or intersections without traffic lights.
Signs on the facades of buildings
The building façade that borders the sidewalk or plaza is treated as part of the public space for the purposes of this decision. This means that even a sign on the wall of your private property requires a permit from the municipality if that façade borders the public space.
The sign's surface area may not exceed thirty percent of the façade's surface area and must not exceed ten square meters. The sign may not protrude more than thirty centimeters from the façade and must be installed at a minimum height of two hundred fifty centimeters above the sidewalk level. If the building has multiple owners, the approval of the administrator is required under Law No. 55/2025 “On the administration of co-ownership in buildings.”.
The lighting of signs must be automatically turned off during the hours prohibited by the municipality. Installing them on architectural elements of historical value requires prior approval from cultural heritage authorities. Fines for advertising structures installed without a permit are accompanied by the seizure of the structures and a ban on reapplying for up to two years.
Read also: How to Register a New Business in Albania
Beaches and the Broad Territorial Framework
Link to the beach regulations
The decision also interacts with other sectors, where the sectoral legal framework already has its own rules. The case of beaches is illustrative.
The beaches are primarily regulated by Decision No. 649, October 16, 2024 “For the approval of the regulation on the conditions and criteria for operating a beach station.” When there is a discrepancy between it and the new Decision, the sectoral act takes precedence. The new Decision is incorporated as a supplementary layer, applying its general principles to that existing framework.
The decision confirms four beach categories: A for sandy beaches of considerable width, B for rocky and gravel beaches, AB for mixed beaches, and C for pristine beaches that cannot be economically exploited. For all active types, the principle of free access applies: no private operator may restrict public access to the sand or water, regardless of any permits obtained.
Link to territorial law and inspectorial competence
The National Land Protection Inspectorate and the local inspection bodies have the authority to identify unauthorized uses and to take administrative measures. When public spaces have been created as a result of building permits issued by the National Council for Territory and Water, the inspection bodies coordinate their work with that council's technical secretariat.
The Road Code, cultural heritage legislation, environmental legislation, and public health legislation always take precedence when regulating specific issues. Businesses must comply with the entire framework, not just the primary licensing authority.
Read also: Building and Land Development Permits: What You Need to Know
Read also: Beach Station 2026: Certification as an Accommodation Facility
Concrete Example: Café with Five Outdoor Tables
Legal abstraction becomes real with an ordinary case. Imagine a café in Tirana with ten tables inside and the desire to place five tables outside, on the sidewalk in front of the café.
The first step is measurement. If the sidewalk is five meters wide, you may use up to thirty percent of it, that is, up to one and a half meters in depth. But this limit applies only if two hundred centimeters of free passage remain. With five tables and their chairs, the occupied area is about ten square meters. If this number exceeds the limits, the number of tables or the available space must be reviewed.
The second step is to apply through e-Albania with the complete dossier: the application form, the floor plan signed by a licensed designer, photographs of the current state, graphic renderings, the lease agreement, and the tax certificate. Also submitted is the notarized declaration committing to the planting of five trees, one for each table.
The third step is waiting: seven days for the preliminary assessment and fifteen days for the final decision. After approval, the fee set by the Tirana Municipal Council, calculated based on surface area and zone, is paid.
The permit is posted on a visible wall along with the approved plan. Renewal must be requested three months before expiration. If the café places tables outside the authorized boundaries, even with just one additional table, it risks a fine, suspension, and revocation of the permit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the decision also apply to private spaces that are publicly accessible?
Yes, when those areas are administered or maintained with public funds. Private property remains the owner's and its right to development is not infringed, but if that area is managed by the municipality with its own funds, the decision's regulations apply.
What happens to existing permits after the decision is approved?
Active permits remain valid until their expiration. However, entities must submit a confirmation request within sixty days of the decision's entry into force, in accordance with the new formal and technical requirements. Failure to submit within this deadline causes the previous license to lose its legal validity.
Can I transfer the license if I sell the business or change the owner?
No. The license is personal and nontransferable. If ownership of the activity changes, the new holder must apply for a new license like any other entity.
What are the mandatory minimum distances for street markets?
Two meters from the entrances of residential and institutional buildings, five meters from hospital and fire station emergency entrances, three meters from every road intersection, and ten meters from cultural monuments. These distances are mandatory and cannot be negotiated with the municipality.
Are there different requirements for cultural fairs compared to commercial ones?
Yes. Cultural, artisanal, and social fairs enjoy a reduced fee as per the Municipal Council's decision and are not subject to the same rate as commercial fairs. Fairs organized by the municipality itself and public institutions are entirely exempt from the fee.
What is the difference between the occupancy fee and the table tax?
There are two separate obligations based on different legal frameworks. The occupation fee is tied to the area of public space physically used. The sign tax is a local tax linked to the size and type of advertising structure. A business with a sign physically placed in public space is subject to both.
Is there a deadline for the municipality to adopt the implementing regulations?
Yes. Municipalities have sixty days from the decision's entry into force to adopt the local implementing acts. Until then, applications may also be submitted in person at municipal counters, since the National Agency for Information Services has a two-year deadline to establish the single electronic registry.
Read also
Read also: Beach Station Regulations 2024: Conditions and Criteria
Read also: Local Taxes in Albania: What Your Business Pays
Read also: Tax Law Changes 2026: What Changes and What Remains
Does your business use public spaces?
Licenses, documentation, deadlines, and local fees vary by municipality and type of activity. The AlProfit Consult team helps you assess your current situation, complete the necessary documentation, and avoid fines.
Services related to this topic:
- Assessment of the current situation and verification of existing permits.
- Assistance with completing application documentation
- Coordination with the municipality and inspection agencies
- Monitoring deadlines and license renewals
- Tax advice on local fees and associated obligations