Offences under the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000
For complete information on offences please see the full text of the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 and the Fuel Quality Standards Regulations 2001.
Offences under the Act include:
- Supply of non compliant fuel - It is an offence for a constitutional corporation or a Commonwealth entity or a person who supplies fuel in the course of constitutional trade or commerce to supply fuel in Australia that is the subject of a fuel standard or an approval to vary that standard, and that fuel does not meet the standard, or the standard as varied. It will not be an offence if the supply was in order to comply with a direction or order under an emergency law or the person believes on reasonable grounds that the fuel would be further processed for the purpose of bringing the fuel into compliance with the standard or the standard as varied (section 12);
- Supply of altered fuel - It is an offence for a constitutional corporation or a Commonwealth entity or a person who supplies fuel in the course of constitutional trade or commerce to alter fuel in Australia that is the subject of a fuel standard or an approval to vary that standard, if the fuel is altered with the intention of using it in Australia, and the fuel as altered does not meet the standard which applies to that fuel (section 20); and
- Supply of fuel without the right documentation - The Act requires that, where a person supplies fuel in Australia to another person (who is not the end user) and the fuel is the subject of a fuel standard, the supplier must, if it is a constitutional corporation or a Commonwealth entity or a person who supplies fuel in the course of constitutional trade or commerce, provide the other person, within the period prescribed by the Regulations, with documentation containing a statement as to whether or not the fuel supplied complies with the applicable fuel standard and any other information relating to the fuel that is prescribed by the Regulations (section 19). It is an offence for a person to whom section 19 applies to fail to comply with the requirements of that section.
- Supply and importation of prohibited fuel additives - It is an offence for a constitutional corporation or a Commonwealth entity or a person who supplies a fuel additive in the course of constitutional trade or commerce to supply a fuel additive in Australia or to import a fuel additive into Australia if the fuel additive is covered by an entry in the Register of Prohibited Fuel Additives (sections 30 and 31 of the Act);