Since the marking of fuel has been introduced three years ago, the state budget revenue has increased, the grey economy has dropped and the quality of fuel has improved, says Mr. Marinko Ukropina, General Director of SGS.
This procedure is applied so as to prevent selling fuel outside of registered petrol stations, and has been introduced for the purpose of aligning with the EU regulations. Marking oil derivatives programme has been introduced in February 2014 with the aim of fighting illegal activities in the sector of energy, increasing the budget revenue by increasing trade in legal economy and protecting end consumers.
We would like to recall that the Government initiated the introduction of this programme by adopting Regulation on Marking Oil Derivatives in 2013, and after the international call for proposals, published in Financial Times, the consortium with SGS as the leader won this job. The representatives of the consortium have said that they are offering the service of fuel marking via the most modern nanotechnology as well as the technical assistance to the market inspection of the Ministry of Trade during regular inspections of quality of fuel and its legality as stipulated by the law. Under the legal provisions that regulate this domain, the users of services of marking/monitoring also have a possibility to use arbitration in independent authorised Serbian laboratories that do not belong to the consortium. They can use this right if they believe that they have been damaged, exercising their legal rights of action and appeal, as they say in SGS.
As Mr. Ukropina had said, after three years of its implementation, the good results of the marking programme speak for themselves. For the first year, the grey economy in the sector of derivatives trade has dropped to below 1%. Out of the total number of controlled samples in 2014 (2,770) only 26 of them, i.e. 0.9% did not show the prescribed level of markers, and for 2015 that percent was 0.7 (out of 6,768 samples, there have been 47 that have not satisfied the prescribed level), and in 2016 this dropped to 0.6% (39 unsatisfactory ones out of 6,549 samples).
In comparison to 2013, the total volume of marked fuel derivatives in 2014 has increased for 12.8 %, in 2015 compared to 2014 it has increased for 11.96%, and for 2016 this volume is higher for 5% in comparison to 2015.
– These results unquestionably demonstrate that before this programme had started there has been 30% of illegally traded fuel derivatives out of the total volume in the derivatives market, and the state was severely damaged due to uncharged fees (excise duties) – says Mr. Ukropina.
As Mr. Ukropina had said, the Republic of Serbia budget revenue increase through the collection of excise duties has been one of the most important results of the legal trade increase, and in 2014 it has increased for 13.2% in comparison to 2013, in 2015 it was higher for 4.8% in comparison to 2014, and in 2016 the collection of excise duties has increased for 13% in comparison to 2015.
Source: www.b92.net