According to the proposed government law that entered the Council of the Republic on Friday, the executive authority stresses the necessity of this “Intervention by setting maximum margins for all components of the value chains for regular gasoline, diesel and bottled LPG”.
“For reasons of public interest and to ensure the orderly functioning of the market and the protection of consumers, exceptionally maximum margins may be set in any of the commercial components constituting the selling price to the public of simple fuels or bottled LPG.”It can be read in the body of the legislative text.
According to the proposal, maximum margins can be set for “any of the activities in the value chain of simple fuels or packaged LPG”.
The maximum margins involved, which “must be limited in time”, according to the proposal of the Executive, may be fixed “by order of the members of the Government responsible for the areas of economy and energy, under a proposal of the ERSE [Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos] And I heard the competition authority.”
In the explanatory note to the proposed law, the government also notes that during the ongoing legislative process in Parliament, the “National Consumer Council and Energy Services Regulatory Authority” should be heard.
In July, the government approved a bill that would allow the executive branch to limit fuel sales margins by decree, if they were deemed too high “unjustifiably”, according to Environment and Climate Action Minister Joao Pedro Matos Fernandez.
The average selling price of simple gasoline to the public rose 1.7% in June, compared to May “representing the seventh consecutive increase” in Portugal, but the weight of sales margins declined, according to ERSE.
As for diesel, in the second quarter of this year, Portugal’s tax burden increased by 19 cents compared to Spain, and without taxes, “the national average prices are in line with those of the neighboring country,” according to ERSE.
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