Government announces joint effort to inspect gas stations

The National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon), linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, will coordinate a national task force to inspect prices at gas stations. The operation, which will count on the participation of consumer protection agencies, such as the Procons, will be held on the 24th of this month in all states.

The announcement was made this Thursday (18th), at a press conference, and aims to enforce Petrobras’ decision, which reduced this week the price of fuel sold to distributors. The reduction was R$ 0.44 per liter in the average price of diesel, which dropped from R$ 3.46 to R$ 3.02, and R$ 0.40 per liter of gasoline, from R$ 3. 18 for BRL 2.78.

“We have to understand, and recognize, that this measure by Petrobras and the Brazilian government benefits the entire Brazilian population and has to be complied with, and its execution, supervised”, said the national consumer secretary, Wadih Damous. “We are not criminalizing fuel stations, but perhaps it is the most cartelized sector of the Brazilian economy. We have always had problems with this issue of fuel prices,” he added.

According to Wadih, a series of reports of abuse and fraud came after the announcement of the price reduction. Consumers have complained of sudden increases in prices to circumvent the pass-through of the discount. The government’s idea is to compare the prices practiced in recent days with the new prices, after Petrobras’ reduction.

“Since yesterday (17th) we have received several reports of abuse and fraud. They increased (prices) the day after the announcement (of the reduction), and later, and further ahead, reduced, but they will not reduce anything ’ he noted. Senacon’s holder asked for support from app drivers, truck drivers and society in general to denounce abusive practices. According to the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, among the measures that can be taken are the imposition of fines and even the suspension of activities at stations that are caught committing illegalities in the operation.

“We scheduled the mutirão on the 24th, so that there is time for the service stations to adapt to the new prices, guided by this new Petrobras policy. We hope that this happens spontaneously. If the service stations do not understand the need for this adaptation and try to transform the reduction into margin of profit, coercive apparatuses come into play,” he said.

Dino emphasized that, although there is no price regulation in the fuel market, the sector is regulated by laws, decrees and other legal provisions, and demanded a sense of proportionality from companies when passing on discounts. “We know that the usual practice is that, when Petrobras announces a price for the distributor, regardless of the station’s constant stock, the transfer is immediate, hours later, the next day. Regarding the reduction, there is not the same speed “, he criticized.

In an interview with the program The Voice of Brazilthis week, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, declared that there will be “a firm hand from the government for the price drop to reach the pump”

permanent monitoring

The decision to carry out the mutirão was defined in a meeting of Senacon, which coordinates the National System of Consumer Defense, with representatives of Procons, Public Defenders, Public Ministry, Order of Lawyers of Brazil (OAB), Administrative Council of Economic Defense (Cade ) and the National Petroleum and Biofuels Agency (ANP).

At the same meeting, the creation of a permanent committee to monitor the fuel market was defined, formed by Senacon, Cade and ANP. A cooperation term should be signed in the next few days to enable the joint action of the bodies, which will carry out a preventive and ostensive inspection against possible economic abuses in the sector.