Fuel marking system operational by March
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:21:44 +0000
The government’s fuel marking and monitoring system is expected to be fully operational by March following an early-February launch, a senior Finance official said.
“We will test the marker and the inspections of refineries so that by February 7 and 8, we launch it,” Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said in an interview last week.
The fuel-marking program is designed to check oil smuggling, which the department has said is costing the government an estimated P27 billion to P44 billion annually in revenue losses.
The Finance department last month said a masterplan for the program had been submitted by the chosen fuel-marking provider — a joint venture between Switzerland-based security-ink company SICPA SA and verification and certification firm SGS Philippines
SICPA SA and SGS Philippines are expected to provide a unique chemical marker capable of being embedded at the molecular level in petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene.
The contract also covers services and equipment necessary to administer and inject the marker and the administration of confirmatory tests.
The Bureau of Customs will implement the program, which is mandated under Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act.
The government has allotted P2 billion for the program’s first year of implementation, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua has said.
“In the succeeding years, it will be passed on to the industry and they may pass it on to the consumers. So if the price [of oil] is 6 centavos per liter, and if a full tank is 40 liters, they (the consumer) will pay an additional P2.40,” he said.
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