Need to strictly control and clearly regulate the punishment of agents storing 'impure' gas cylinders

Strengthening control of gas consumption because 30% of gas is illegal

At the workshop “Contributing ideas to innovate the Decree on State management in the gas sector” held in Ho Chi Minh City, representatives of the Vietnam Gas Association and businesses contributed many important ideas to the Draft Decree replacing Decree 87/2018/ND-CP (Decree 87) of the Government on gas business.

Experts and business representatives give their opinions on reforming the decree on state management in the gas sector. (Photo: Dai Viet)

According to experts, the gas business sector in Vietnam currently has products such as: LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), LNG (liquefied natural gas), KTA (multi-component gas), CNG (compressed natural gas). These products are managed and operated according to Decree 87. However, this Decree is no longer suitable for the actual situation. Meanwhile, the new draft expected to replace Decree 87 also has many inappropriate regulations.

Mr. Tran Minh Loan, Vice President of the Vietnam Gas Association, said that the first draft has been approved and this is the second time the draft has been consulted. Therefore, comments from experts and businesses are extremely necessary.

According to Mr. Loan, there have been a series of major fires across the country recently, including the mini apartment fire in Hanoi that “shocked” public opinion. This places a huge responsibility on the whole society in fire prevention and the gas business must also be responsible for controlling consumption and joining hands with society.

“ Although the explosions were not related to gas, gas is a consumer business that is more complicated than electricity and some other industries,” Mr. Loan emphasized.

According to Mr. Loan, regulations on State management in controlling gas consumption are very important factors, especially the issue of gas circulation and distribution, illegal filling, “cutting ears and grinding shells” of gas cylinders, lack of responsibility to consumers, and failure to stabilize the market. If the State does not have fundamental measures, it is very easy for unfair competition to occur.

“ Up to 30% of gas products on the market originate from illegal filling facilities. Speculation and hoarding disrupt the market and cause inequality in business, affecting 30-40% of companies’ output. This shows that there are still many issues to discuss regarding State management in controlling and trading gas on the market,” said Mr. Loan.

Mr. Tran Minh Loan, Vice President of Vietnam Gas Association. (Photo: Dai Viet)

Regarding gas source management, Mr. Loan said that there should be specific regulations on the management of gas supply companies, because illegal gas filling facilities are "running rampant" thanks to loopholes in current regulations. Gas trading has many shortcomings, typically buying small quantities is easy, buying large quantities is difficult. This makes illegal gas filling and selling fake gas more difficult to control.

Agents collecting "miscellaneous" cylinders are likely to be heavily fined.

On the business side, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyet Dung, Director of PV GAS LPG Southern shared that in the draft Decree 87, Clause 6, Article 17 stipulates the rights and obligations of LPG cylinder dealers as follows: "Do not buy or sell LPG cylinders of unknown origin, not in accordance with the contract signed with LPG cylinder traders; do not buy or sell LPG cylinders circulating on the market that are owned by LPG cylinder traders".

Ms. Dung suggested that Clause 6, Article 17 has two different contents, so it is recommended to separate it into two separate clauses to clarify the meaning of LPG cylinders and specific LPG cylinders as follows:

“ Do not buy or sell LPG cylinders of unknown origin, not in accordance with the contract signed with LPG cylinder traders”.

Add clause 7 on LPG cylinders separated from clause 6 to have a basis for handling the act of illegally transporting, possessing, and trading LPG cylinders as follows: " Do not collect, transport, possess, or trade LPG cylinders of traders without a contract with an agent; do not buy or sell LPG cylinders circulating on the market owned by traders trading in LPG cylinders" .

According to Ms. Dung, the reason for such a change is because the collection of empty cylinders at dealers is having many shortcomings.

Many gas dealers are being fined after collecting “junk cylinders” from customers left in their stores. These are cylinders from traders who do not have contracts with the dealers and the dealers are trying to contact these traders to return the cylinders. However, during the time of contacting to return the cylinders, they are being fined.

“ I suggest that there should be clear regulations on the level of penalties. For example, if a store is holding 1-5 cylinders or less than 10 cylinders, how will it be punished? If it is holding 11-20 cylinders, how will it be punished? It is not possible to punish 1 cylinder the same as 40 cylinders. This will make it difficult for agents when they promote consumers to use gas cylinders from traders with contracts and collect gas cylinders from traders without contracts,” said Ms. Dung.

A representative of the Vietnam Gas Association said that this unit will synthesize opinions from businesses and experts to send to the representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to present to the Government as soon as possible.

DAI VIET

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