In the draft Circular amending, supplementing, and abolishing certain regulations in the fuel business, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes tightening regulations on renting or borrowing fuel storage facilities by companies.

This draft Circular aims to guide the implementation of several provisions of Decree 80/2023/ND-CP, which amends and supplements some articles of Decree No. 95/2021/ND-CP and Decree No. 83/2014/ND-CP of the Government regarding fuel business.

A new point in Decree 80/2023/ND-CP compared to previous decrees is that retail fuel agents can sign contracts to be retail fuel agents for up to three traders who are either fuel distributors or major fuel business traders.

Accordingly, the draft Circular stipulates: Retail fuel agents are responsible for signing contracts to be retail fuel agents in accordance with Article 21 of Decree No. 83/2014/ND-CP and the provisions of Clause 7, Article 1 of Decree No. 80/2023/ND-CP, which amends Clauses 2 and 3 of Article 21 of Decree No. 83/2014/ND-CP.

If a retail fuel agent has been issued a Certificate of Eligibility for Retail Fuel Agency when signing an agency contract with two or three major fuel business traders or fuel distributors, the agent must submit a dossier to the Department of Industry and Trade of the provinces and centrally-run cities to amend and supplement information about the fuel suppliers in the Certificate of Eligibility for Retail Fuel Agency and the Certificate of Retail Fuel Shop Eligibility according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 4, Article 20 and Point b, Clause 2, Article 25 of Decree No. 83/2014/ND-CP.

If a retail fuel agent has only one retail fuel shop and signs an agency contract with two or three major fuel business traders or fuel distributors, the agent must submit a dossier to the Department of Industry and Trade of the provinces and centrally-run cities to amend and supplement information about the fuel suppliers in the Certificate of Retail Fuel Shop Eligibility according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 2, Article 25 of Decree No. 83/2014/ND-CP.

Responsibilities for Reporting Fuel Storage Usage

Additionally, the draft Circular specifies responsibilities for reporting the use of fuel storage facilities:

• Major fuel business traders, fuel distributors, and fuel service traders with owned fuel storage facilities rented to other fuel traders must report quarterly on storage usage and leasing to the Ministry of Industry and Trade before the 10th of the first month of the following period.

• Major fuel business traders and fuel distributors renting storage to support their fuel business must report quarterly on the use of rented storage to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Department of Industry and Trade in the area where the storage is located before the 10th of the first month of the next period.

• Departments of Industry and Trade in provinces and centrally-run cities are responsible for inspecting and monitoring the usage of rented storage by fuel traders, focusing on: lease contracts, leased capacity, and the volume of goods passing through the storage during the reporting period.

If any signs of violations of storage usage regulations are detected, the Department of Industry and Trade must promptly report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for management coordination.

Source: Vietstock