Hanoi (VNA) - The trading of low-qualitygas, illegal extraction and failure to ensure the safety continue posingdangers to the health and rights of consumers.

Some gas trading firms illegally take gas cylindershells from other companies, then remove the label on the tank and attach theirown to sell to consumers.

A representative from the Market ManagementDepartment under the Ministry of Industry and Trade recently said thatunhealthy competition in the trade of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) hasremained and destabilised the market, affecting the interests of consumers,organisations and individuals with legitimate trading activities.

Since October 2017, market management forces haveconducted inspections on 2,359 cases, handling 643 cases and seizing 1,781 gastanks and 15,546 mini gas cylinders.

They have fined establishments with administrativeviolations totalling 4 billion VND (177,700 USD) and suspended the operation of10 shops. One case was transferred to police for criminal investigation.

Recently, the Hanoi market management team checkeda truck and discovered 639 gas cylinder covers with the original labels andvalves removed.

This is not the first time that functional forceshave detected the gas tanks of reputable companies in the wrong hands.

Previously, the Police Department for SmugglingPrevention (C74) under the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) and marketmanagement department in Hoa Binh province inspected the gas extraction base ofPhuc Khang Petroleum Gas Ltd Co and found that the firm was using hundreds ofgas cylinder shells under the brand names of Petrolimex, Total, Dai Hai,Shellan Gas, Siam Gas and Vinashin Petro.

At the time of inspection, this company could notshow legal documents for using the gas cylinder covers of other companies.

Head of the MoPS’s Market Management Department TrinhVan Ngoc said that violations on gas trading have increased sharply.

Establishments and individuals mainly collect gascylinders and remove the labels or take gas shells from prestigious brands thenrefill them with gas to sell to the market.

These gas cylinders were still sold in marketswithout any tests on fire safety, he said.

To avoid police checks, firms used vacant land awayfrom residential areas to extract gas from gas vehicles into gas cylinders,said Ngoc.

According to Doan Trong Tha, from the Gas Associationof Vietnam, every year, gas trading enterprises lose over one million gascylinder covers. Each cover costs about 450,000-500,000 VND.
 
Meanwhile, the company taking covers from othercompanies spent just a few thousand VND to turn it into a new one. Itrevealed that reputable gas trading businesses were losing a huge amount ofmoney, he said.

In fact, the illegal gas extraction is happeningfrequently but the handling of violations is only administrative sanctions, andthat is not enough.

Handling of violations in gas trading is difficultbecause it is a specific business activity that is similar to the petroleumbusiness but not yet managed by regulations in petroleum trading, said MajorNguyen Van Thuc from C74.

Many of the sanctioning decrees were out of dateand not suitable with market movements, so they were not enough to deterviolations, he said.

Therefore, the functional agencies should work toimprove the law in this sector, creating conditions for healthy competition inthe market, he added.

Deputy Director of Hanoi’s Market Management DepartmentNguyen Dac Loc said that the authorised agencies should resolutely deal withsmall gas business establishments which lack trading licences and do not ensurefire safety conditions.

At the same time, the agencies should regulatespecific responsibilities for local authorities in the management of gastrading in the area, Loc said.

More decrees were also needed to fix shortcomingsin the current decree, including a focus on regulations to ensure safety,health and rights of consumers, and was the foundation for State managementagencies for post-checks, he said.-VNA