Steps to curb fraud, increase safety in gas market

Stricter measures will soon be applied on frauds in the cooking gas market in order to ensure consumer safety.
 

Inspectors in Binh Duong Province check a local gas facility

At a training conference for the implementation of Decree No. 104/2011 and No.105/2011 in HCM City held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, on December 14, Head of the Legal Department under the Vietnam Gas Association, Nguyen Trung Thanh, said that more safety policies were needed.

According to Thanh, the names of gas companies must be made public. He said that there are many gas wholesalers operating at present, but only 24 of them are reported by the ministry.  “In order to regulate the industry it is essential that a list of all the gas companies in operation is made public," he said.

Le Thi Anh Man, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Gas Association, said regulations should stipulate that all filling stations be subject to random inspections. "Currently we do not know the locations of many of these facilities. The time it takes to identify and locate them gives their operators enough time to clean up and hide any violations. Many of them are also in cahoots with local authorities, which adds further problems when it comes to oversight."

Man added that, “A single filling station may service gas tanks for a number of companies, adding fake brand labels depending on their clients. Many of these operations offer more cheap gas so that the retailers can sell it under false names. Tighter controls are needed to deal with the situation.”

Appropriation of gas cylinders must be curbed

A representative from Mien Tay Gas Branch argued that it takes too much time to collect empty gas tanks from every household, so they must substitute.

Man, however, stressed that the association are fed up with the switching of gas tanks, as it leads to illegal filling and fraud.

Under Decree No.105, “Retailers can be fined up to VND 30 million (USD15,000) if they do not return the empty cylinders to companies after use,” she said.

Vo Trong Quyen, Deputy Director of the Market Management Department, confirmed that the decree will take effect on January 1, 2012.

“There have been increasing cases of fraud in the industry over the last two years because regulations have not been strict enough," he says. “There was one case in particular, in which authorities found out nearly 2,000 gas tanks with fake labels. The violator was fined only VND 2 million (USD 100). From now on, violators will not only fined but could also lose their business licenses. I hope this will contribute to the integrity of the industry as a whole."

A number of recent accidents involving gas tanks have drawn public attention to the hazards of lax management.