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The system for monitoring and scrutinizing of the quality of liquid fuels and liquid bio-fuels has been in operation since 1 May 2004. The system was developed mainly to enable Poland to discharge the obligations following from its EU membership (laid down in Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and amended by Directive 2003/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 March 2003).
The obligations consist in monitoring the quality of liquid fuels placed on the market and drawing up reports for the European Commission on the quality of fuels on the market. In the process of constructing the new system, account was taken of the specific character of the Polish fuel market and special solutions were introduced to make it possible to initiate inspections not only on the basis of statistical factors but also on the basis of any information on fuel of poor quality. Thus, the system is to pursue yet another objective, namely to try to eliminate fuel non-compliant with quality requirements laid down in the legislation and to prevent it from being placed on the market.
In view of the double nature of the objectives, the system has been divided into two parts: “European” and “national”, which differ in relation to a few criteria (type of entities subject to inspection, method for (random) selection of entities to be subject to inspection, number of parametres scrutinized).
From 1 January 2007 on, the Act of 25 August 2006 on fuel quality monitoring and scrutinizing system will constitute the legal basis for the system’s operation. The tasks related to the system administration are performed by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, while scrutiny of fuel quality is carried out by the Trade Inspectorate. The new regulation provides for considerable extension and modification of the system as compared to the one based on the previous Act of 23 January 2004. It is the first time fuel quality scrutiny has been carried out on such a wide scale. The scrutinizing system covers the whole fuel distribution chain – starting from filling stations, through wholesalers and fuel bases, to fuel producer. All types of fuel available on the market are subject to scrutiny.
The Act on fuel quality monitoring and scrutinizing system fulfils the following goals:
- environment protection;
- human health protection;
- safety of vehicle users;
- protection of economic interests of consumers;
- prevention of placing fuel non-compliant with quality requirements on the market.
Fuel quality inspections are carried out within:
- the European part of the system, aimed at monitoring in terms of statistical quality of fuels;
- the national part of the system, aimed at prevention of transportation, storage, placing on the market, and gathering in company filling stations of fuels non-compliant with quality requirements laid down in the legislation.
Within the European part of the system, the scrutinizing system covers petrols (unleaded petrol 95 and 98), diesel fuels and liquid bio-fuels available at filling stations and company filling stations. Tests of samples of petrols and diesel fuels take into account all parametres affecting the environment (laid down in Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and amended by Directive 2003/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 March 2003). Stations to be subject to inspection are selected at random (IT system).
All other inspections are carried out within the national part of the fuel quality monitoring and scrutinizing system. The national part of the system covers inspections of the following types of fuels:
- pertol (unleaded 95 and 98);
- diesel fuels;
- liquid bio-fuels;
- liquefied petroleum gas (LPG);
- compressed natural gas (CNG);
- light heating fuel.
The following business entities are subject to inspections:
- fuel producers;
- entities engaged in fuel storage;
- entities engaged in business activity in the field of fuel transportation (at the instance of the police or as part of operations carried out by the police);
- owners and users of selected vehicle fleets;
- farmers producing liquid bio-fuels for their own use;
- fuel wholesalers;
- filling stations and company filling stations, where control covers: liquid fuels, liquid bio-fuels, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and compressed natural gas (CNG).
- entities placing light heating fuel on the market.
Tests of fuel samples verify all or some of the parametres laid down in the legislation. The administrator of the fuel quality monitoring and control system determines the minimum number of business entities subject to inspection. However, it is possible to initiate an inspection also on obtaining information about poor quality of fuels or circumstances indicating the possibility of poor quality of fuels (in practice, these include complaints from drivers, information from the Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation).
As compared to the previous Act on the liquid fuel and liquid bio-fuel quality monitoring and scrutinizing system an important change is that the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection or the Chief Inspector of the Trade Inspectorate immediately orders an inspection of the supplier of the enterprise where fuel of poor quality was detected. In the case of the lack of a stationary fuel tank, the Trade Inspectorate initiates inspection activities in order to determine the enterprise that the doubtful fuel comes from, and that has a stationary tank.
Samples taken during the inspection are tested in laboratories having accreditation certificates issued by the Polish Centre for Accreditation.
Fuel quality inspections are carried out in two monitoring periods: from 1 May to 30 September (summer period) and from 1 October to 30 April (winter period).
The OCCP is responsible for drawing up reports for:
- the European Commission (by 30 June each year) concerning:
- quality of liquid fuels and liquid bio-fuels;
- sulphur content in light heating fuel, heavy heating fuel (on the basis of data of the Chief Environment Protection Inspector), in marine fuels used in sea vessels (on the basis of reports drawn up by Directors of Maritime Offices).
- the Polish Council of Ministers (by 31 May each year) concerning:
- quality of liquid fuels, quality of liquid bio-fuels, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and compressed natural gas (CNG).
Punishments:
The Act provides for the following punishments for production, transportation, storage, and placing on the market of liquid fuels, liquid bio-fuels, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG) or light heating oil non-compliant with quality requirements:
- from PLN 50 thousand to PLN 500 thousand (or up to 3 years’ imprisonment)
- from PLN 100 thousand to PLN 1 million or imprisonment from 3 months to 5 years if the fuel constitutes property of significant value
- from PLN 10 thousand to PLN 25 thousand in the case of lesser importance
- from PLN 25 thousand to PLN 250 thousand for inadvertent activities
Moreover, the Act on fuel quality monitoring and scrutinizing system provides for fines for:
- farmers producing liquid bio-fuels for their own use if the bio-fuels do not comply with quality requirements laid down in the Act;
- owners or users of selected fleet who place liquid bio-fuel used in this fleet on the market, use liquid bio-fuel non-compliant with quality requirements without notification, supply selected fleet with liquid bio-fuel from a pump which is not marked in an appropriate way, or who do not discharge the obligation to notify the President of the OCCP of changes in data contained in the notification;
- entities engaged in business activity in the field of production, storage, or placing on the market of liquid bio-fuels intended for selected fleet if they store bio-fuel in an unmarked containers and in a way non-compliant with the Act;
- those who use heavy heating fuel non-compliant with quality requirements;
- those who use fuel intended for engines of inland sailing vessels non-compliant with quality requirements.