Quyết định 79/2008/QD-BTC

DECISION

ON THE MECHANISM FOR MANAGING AND ADMINISTERING SELLING PRICES OF PETROL AND OIL

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 77/2003/ND-CP of July 1. 2003, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant the Government's Decree No. 75/2008/ND-CP of June 9, 2008, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 170/2003/ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Ordinance on Prices;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 55/2007/ND-CP of April 6, 2007, on petrol and oil trading;

After reaching agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- Vietnamese traders (under the Commercial Law) who import or export petrol and oil or process petrol and oil in the domestic market (referred to as principal petrol and oil trading enterprises) may set selling prices of petrol and oil within their own distribution systems according to the market price mechanism.

Article 2.- Wholesale petrol and oil trading enterprises shall base themselves on the import price of petrol or oil of each category, prescribed charges and taxes, actual business cost and reasonable profits for re-investment in the development of their production and business to work out specific prices under the guidance on the calculation of production costs and distribution expenses and the determination of goods and service prices in the Government's Decree No. 116/2005/ND-CP of September 15. 2005, detailing the implementation of the Competition Law. and the Finance Minister's Decision No. 06/2005/QD-BTC of January 18. 2005, promulgating the Regulation on determination of prices of assets, goods and services; and decide on appropriate retail prices in each period according to the quality of petrol or oil of each category.

Article 3.- Before issuing decisions on selling prices of petrol and oil, provincial petrol and oil trading enterprises shall register the selling prices with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade; and then organize the sale of petrol and oil at registered prices, publicize registered prices within their systems and sell petrol and oil in sufficient volume and of proper quality to customers at prices which must not be higher than the publicized prices. At the same time, they shall observe price valorization measures prescribed by law upon occurrence of abnormal price fluctuations in the market.

If the two ministries detect that the prices registered by enterprises are unreasonable, they shall control price-constituting elements as prescribed in the Price Ordinance and request enterprises to sell petrol and oil at reasonable prices.

Article 4.- Acts of abusing the dominant market position, joining a syndicate to set monopolistic prices or setting unreasonable prices to control the market, causing harms to legitimate interests of other enterprises, consumers and the State are strictly prohibited.

Principal petrol and oil trading enterprises that violate the provisions of this Decision shall be handled according to the Government's Decree No. 120/2005/ND-CP of September 30, 2005. on handling violations of law in the competition domain, and Decree No. 169/2004/ ND-CP of September 22,2004. on sanctioning administrative violations in the price domain.

Article 5.- This Decision takes effect on September 16, 2008. and replaces the Finance Minister's Decision No. 1968/QD-BTC of June 6, 2007, on the mechanism for managing and administering petrol prices.