Fines and closure for fuel station foul play

It has taken the government over a decade to issue a decision on gas stations’ foul play, but the competent ministries have finally announced strict measures against any violations of the system of fuel input and output and the interconnection with the tax authorities.

Fuel station owners or operators who violate the input-output system’s provisions, or who have not installed tools to connect the business to the tax administration (or have not yet installed the input-output system) now face fines of up to 150,000 euros and being stripped of their operating license, meaning they will be shut down.

The penalties concerns the non-implementation of the provisions for the integrated systems of monitoring and electronic transmission of input-output data and their connection with the electronic tax mechanism of liquid fuel stations and oil sellers’ facilities. It is noted that the decision, dated September 5, 2022, has been under consideration for more than five years – i.e. since the previous government.

After that long delay in its issuance, the decision has now been detailed and includes all cases that lead to tax evasion and smuggling.

Therefore, if a fuel station is found to be operating without an input-output monitoring system, it will be sealed and an administrative fine of €50,000 will be imposed on the operator. The operating license will be temporarily revoked for two months and its operation suspended until an input-output monitoring system is installed. If it is found that the facility, in violation of the above, continues to operate, despite having been sealed and suspended, or if a system has not been installed within three months, the operating license will be permanently revoked. At the same time, a document prohibiting the delivery of fuel to the facility in question, until its legal re-operation, will be sent to all petroleum trading companies.

In the event that the storage, trading or distribution of liquid fuel is found through licensed tanks or meters/pumps that are not connected or monitored by the installed input-output monitoring system, the facility will be sealed and an administrative fine of €50,000 imposed on the operator (as well as on anyone who may have assisted them in committing these violations). In this case, the operating license will be definitively revoked and the station’s operation terminated for good.