Hang the “out of gas” sign, when is it administratively fined, when is it dealt with criminally?
Recently, many stores across the country have repeated the situation of hanging “out of gas” signs or selling in drip form waiting to raise prices. The reporter conducted an interview with Lawyer Ngoc Lan (Hanoi Bar Association) to analyze the legal aspects related to this behavior.
Lawyers, how is it illegal to use the trick of hanging a “out of gas” sign, using the many trickle-selling methods of gas shop owners to wait for price increases?
The fact that petrol and oil shops are intentionally closing and not selling goods under the pretext of “running out of gas” but actually wanting to stockpile goods and wait for the recent price hikes is a sign of speculation and lawlessness.
A shop showing signs of running out of gas on March 11
Article 196 of the 2015 Criminal Code stipulates that speculation is understood as an act of taking advantage of a situation of scarcity or intentionally creating false scarcity in the face of natural disasters, disease outbreaks, wars or economic difficulties. resell for illegal profit.
Which agency is responsible for examining and dealing with these violations, lawyers?
According to current regulations, the administrative management of this field belongs to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Specifically here, the General Market Management Office must direct the provincial Market Management Office to coordinate with the Industry and Trade Office to carry out inspections and handling.
In addition, depending on the reality, the examination and handling requires the coordination of other interdisciplinary forces such as the economic police, science and technology inspectors, the People’s Committee of the commune and the environment…
Speculative actions in the petroleum sector can be dealt with criminally
During the inspection, if it is found that the premises are not properly closed, how to deal with the oil and gasoline trading places?
Depending on the nature of the severity, oil and petroleum companies can be fined for administrative offenses or prosecuted for more serious criminal liability.
For the field of administration, Article 30 of Decree no. 65/2017/ND-CP dated May 25, 2017 (Provisions concerning sanctions for administrative violations in the field of trade in oil and gas, gasoline, oil and natural gas) has stipulated that a fine of between 500,000 and one million dong is imposed for any of the acts of not including time of sale at the point of sale; List of sales times is not clear, not flashy.
This fine is also increased to 40 million in the event of any of the following actions: Reducing the time of sale compared to the time of record, or compared to the time of the previous sale for no apparent reason or without information, notifying the competent authority; reduce the number of goods sold compared to the previous time without a valid reason or without notification to the authorized official.
Regarding criminal liability, according to Article 196 of the 2015 Criminal Code, organizations and individuals can be investigated for criminal responsibility if they take advantage of a situation of scarcity or create artificial scarcity during an epidemic situation. , natural disasters, wars or difficult economic situations, buying and selling of goods in the price stabilization list of goods or in the price lists determined by the State for the purpose of resale for illegal profit in any of the following cases: such as goods worth 500 million VND to less than 1 .5 billion VND; If they make illegal profits from 100 million dong to less than 500 million dong, they will be fined from 30 to 300 million dong or sentenced to between 6 months and 3 years in prison.
In the case of goods worth VND 3 billion or more; If they make illegal profits of VND 1 billion or more, or if they do anything dangerous again, they will be subject to a fine of between VND 1.5 billion and VND 5 billion or a prison term of between 7 and 15 years.
In addition, perpetrators are also prohibited from holding certain positions, carrying out certain professions or doing certain jobs for 1 to 5 years. Commercial legal entities committing crimes in this case will be fined from VND 300 million to VND 9 billion, prohibited from operating in certain fields or prohibited from raising capital for 1-3 years.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/treo-bien-het-xang-khi-nao-bi-phat-hanh-chinh-khi-nao-bi-xu-ly-hinh-su-post…
My Hoa Petroleum One Member Limited Liability Company (Vinh Long province) was fined nearly 120 million VND and had its operating license revoked for 2 months for selling poor quality gasoline.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: 24h.com.vn – Read the original article here
