The same marker will be used to mark fuel on which all duties, excise duties and VAT have been paid during import, intended for gas stations, as well as fuel that is exempt from paying duties and intended for yacht owners. In this way, the state will be sponsoring fuel smuggling, the Association of Oil Companies announced after a new reading of all amendments that the Government adopted without public debate to the Energy Law, which MPs will debate today.
They state that the new Article 208, paragraph 1, prescribes mandatory marking of fuels placed on the Montenegrin market, as well as fuels intended for supplying vessels in international traffic.
"In this way, the proposer of the Amendment - the relevant Ministry (either out of great ignorance or intent) is putting itself in the role of sponsor of organized fuel smuggling, because the proposed text imposes the obligation to mark fuel with the same marker both for which all duties have been paid, but also for fuel that is exempt from excise duty and VAT, and which is used to supply vessels in international traffic. In this way, the proposer would encourage illegal trade, especially for fuels intended for vessels in international traffic, for which no duties are paid, and which would be marked as if everything had been duly paid, and as such the fuels could be misused on the market, because they are already marked," it was stated in a new letter sent to the Parliament.
They state that as responsible businessmen, we have repeatedly pointed out similar legal solutions in the past, which attempted to enable illegal trade in large quantities of fuel in the Port of Bar, where only one company has a monopoly over customs excise warehouses, and now would enable obvious large-scale fuel smuggling.
"It is a well-known fact that the Port of Bar served as a large and organized channel for cigarette smuggling in the past, and these activities were stopped thanks to the coordination and cooperation of domestic and international factors, so the proposed Amendments raise suspicions that fuel marking is being prepared as a cover and replacement for large-scale smuggling of excise goods, because fuel duties are by far the largest budget revenue. Therefore, we call on this esteemed house and other state bodies to check these obvious suspicions in coordination with the SDT. It should be noted that an adequate basis for this planned smuggling was prepared a few months ago, by restoring the possibility of supplying vessels in international traffic with duty-free fuel, i.e. fuel that is exempt from paying the full amount of VAT and excise duty. The essence of it all is that if the Government wants to introduce fuel marking, then it is only expediently justified to mark only fuels that are exempt from paying excise duty and VAT, because there is no logic or motive to smuggle fuel on which all duties have previously been paid," it was stated. in a new letter.
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