The Ministry of Commerce’s Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Repression Directorate-General (CCF) recently launched a campaign to disseminate laws governing the sale of fuel to depot owners across the country.
The aim is to provide the owners with legal guidelines before officials start enforcing fines for malpractice.
CCF director-general Phan Oun told The Post on November 2 that the campaign builds confidence and protects consumer interests by urging businesses to operate honestly.
“We launched this campaign across the country and invite business people in the fuel sector to join. We started this campaign in late September and plan to end it in mid-December.
“After ending this campaign, we will start imposing fines on offenders in the sector,” he said.
Oun said in the past, several fuel depot owners had short-changed customers and were made to sign contracts prohibiting them from continuing the practice.
Companies had also been caught diluting their fuel, which can lead to damaged motors.
“In the past, we found [cases of] non-compliance. We made some fuel stations owners sign a letter promising to stop. Through this campaign, we will spread the word to fuel station owners once again before we start enforcing fines,” he said.
Oun said mechanisms to control fuel products in Cambodia, crooked businesses and penalties for dishonesty in fuel sales were all discussed. Quantity and quality fraud will also be brought up during the campaign.
On August 7 this year, the CCF hatched the idea of the campaign, with 10 major companies in mind.
The project was praised by some, including Muong Angkeara, who said: “I support this campaign because the gasoline [sector] does run into many problems of fraud of quality and quantity.”
