(Source: "Beijing Business Daily" 2020-07-10）

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce has abolished the implementationThe "Refined Oil Market Management Measures" and the "Crude Oil Market Management Measures" of 2014 (hereinafter referred to as the "two measures"). On July 9, at a regular online press conference of the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng said that since the beginning of this year, in order to speed up the improvement of the new petroleum circulation management system, the Ministry of Commerce, together with multiple departments, drafted the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Petroleum Refined Oil Circulation" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), and revised and improved it based on publicly soliciting opinions and suggestions from all walks of life. While the "Two Measures" are being abolished, the "Opinions" are currently undergoing relevant procedures and will be released in the near future.

“The newly abolished crude oil and refined oil market management measures were formulated and promulgated by the Ministry of Commerce in 2006, and have played a positive role in regulating the order of the domestic circulation market of petroleum refined oil.” Gao Feng said.

Dong Xiucheng, professor at the National Institute for Opening-up and Development at the w88 casino and director of the Belt and Road Energy w88 and Development Research CenterIntroduction, China is joiningWTO, the retail and wholesale links in the field of oil circulation must be fully opened to the outside world. It is in this context that the "Two Measures" were formulated and implemented. They are committed to openness at the treaty level, and qualified enterprises can obtain business licenses issued by the Ministry of Commerce or provincial governments by applying for a license.

The "Two Measures" stipulates enterprises that apply for crude oil and refined oil business qualifications, requiring enterprises engaged in crude oil sales, warehousing, and refined oil wholesale and warehousing to decide whether to grant a business license by the Ministry of Commerce. Enterprises engaged in the retail operation of refined oil must decide whether to grant a business license to the commerce department of the provincial people's government. After the abolition of the "two measures", except for the approval of refined oil retail qualifications, which were delegated to prefectural and municipal governments, all other qualification approvals were cancelled.

Gao Feng introduced at the press conference,In August 2019, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Circulation and Promoting Commercial Consumption", which clearly canceled the approval of wholesale and warehousing operations of refined petroleum products and devolved the approval of qualifications for retail operations of refined oil to prefecture-level people's governments. In accordance with the reform requirements of the State Council for “delegating power, delegating power, delegating power, delegating power and optimizing services”, in December 2019, the Ministry of Commerce issued the “Notice on Effectively Implementing the Reform of “Delegating Power, Delegating Power, Delegating Power and Delegating Power” to the Management of Petroleum Refined Oil Circulation Management in December 2019, to guide local governments in the policy transition between approval cancellation and decentralization, and clarified that the people’s governments at the prefectural and municipal levels are responsible for the development of their own regions. Regarding the approval of petroleum retail business qualifications, it is clarified that after the wholesale warehousing business qualifications are cancelled, enterprises must still comply with laws and regulations in safety, environmental protection, fire protection, quality, taxation, transportation, meteorology, measurement and other aspects of business activities, and pointed out that the crude oil and refined oil market management measures will be abolished in due course.

According to statistics, as ofAt the end of 2019, there were more than 100,000 gas stations in operation in China. Among them, gas stations owned by state-owned oil companies such as "Three Barrel Oil" accounted for 60% of the market share, and the rest were occupied by private capital, foreign capital and other state-owned operating entities. The abolition of the "two measures" is actually to implement the "Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment", which will give more private enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises the opportunity to participate in the competition in China's refined oil market.

Dong Xiucheng told a Beijing Business Daily reporter that the abolition of the crude oil and refined oil market management measures is to promote the marketization of the entire industry, which is an irreversible trend. As for the market, there are now many wholesale companies and warehousing companies. The licenses have been cancelled, and the threshold has been lowered. It is easier for market entities to enter. The increase in entities will also intensify the pressure of market competition.

The "Opinions" that will be released recently have been released this yearA draft for comments was released on April 17. According to the draft, relevant provincial departments are required to promptly promote the promulgation of regulations for the circulation management of petroleum products in the region, and clarify the conditions and procedures for access to the refined oil retail market, business operating standards, supervision and management measures, etc. People's governments at the prefectural and municipal levels must take overall responsibility for the approval of refined oil retail business qualifications and the management of refined petroleum products circulation, and strictly control market access.

"Since there were originally the central government's "two measures", which were a basis for the market, after their abolition, companies in the market may suddenly feel that they have no basis, leaving various places with no rules to follow and no clue what to do. In this case, some norms and guidelines are needed from the central government level. The upcoming "Opinions" will play this role to a certain extent. "Dong Xiucheng told a reporter from the Beijing Business Daily, "The contents of the "Opinions" are very comprehensive, and a very important one is to require local governments to formulate specific measures and strengthen supervision, so as to play a normative and guiding role. "

Attachment: original textLink

http://app.bbtnews.com.cn/?app=article&controller=article&action=show&contentid=360502&from=singlemessage