The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just issued Circular No. 18 (Circular 18) dated March 13 on amending, supplementing and abolishing a number of regulations in circulars regulating petroleum trading.

In this Circular, the Ministry has abolished the regulation on the Inter-sectoral Group for managing gasoline prices stipulated in Joint Circular No. 39/2014/TTLT-BCT-BTC regulating the method of calculating base prices; the mechanism for forming, managing, and using the Price Stabilization Fund and managing gasoline prices as stipulated in Decree No. 83/2014/ND-CP dated September 3, 2014 of the Government on gasoline trading.

One of the other notable contents of Circular 18 is the addition of regulations on reporting on the use of petroleum warehouses, applicable to key traders and distributors who own petroleum warehouses for lease and those who rent petroleum warehouses; assigning the responsibility of state management on the use of warehouses.

Specifically, key traders and distributors who have petroleum warehouses rented to other traders must periodically report quarterly on warehouse usage and warehouse rental according to the issued form to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Department of Industry and Trade in the area where the trader rents the warehouse before the 10th of the first month of the following period.

Information to be reported includes: name and address of the warehouse; total warehouse capacity; name and address of the trader renting the warehouse, tank, rental capacity, and gasoline output through the warehouse during the reporting period.

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The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just added regulations on reporting on the use of petroleum depots. Photo: Chi Hung

Petroleum wholesalers and petroleum distributors who rent warehouses must periodically report quarterly on the use of the rented warehouses to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Department of Industry and Trade in the area where the warehouse is rented before the 10th of the first month of the following period.

Information to be reported includes: name and address of the rented warehouse; name and owner of the rented warehouse, tank, rental capacity; total output of gasoline and oil through the warehouse during the reporting period.

In addition, Circular 18 also regulates the implementation of contracts for agents to act as retail agents for gasoline.

In case a trader signs an agency contract with 2 or 3 traders who are the main traders or distributors of gasoline, it is necessary to prepare a report on changes and supplements to the agency contract and send it to the competent authority to request the issuance of additional or amended Certificates or Certifications according to the provisions of Decree No. 83 to ensure eligibility to act as a retail agent or retail store of gasoline.

In case a trader has only one retail petrol station and signs an agency contract with 2 or 3 traders who are the main traders or distributors of petrol, it is necessary to prepare a dossier to request the issuance of a supplement or amendment to the Certificate of eligibility of the petrol station to retail.

Circular 18 also amends and supplements regulations on inspection and issuance of Confirmation Certificates and Certifications. Accordingly, the regulations on inspection and issuance of Certificates of eligibility to act as general agents are removed.

Thus, for general petroleum agents whose Certificate of Confirmation is still valid, during the operation, no administrative procedures for new issuance are required and only the procedures for amending, supplementing and re-issuing the Certificate of eligibility to act as a general petroleum agent are retained.