HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will submit a draft decree to ease the entry of businesses into the gas trading market.

The ministry on Wednesday said it has completed its assessment of the draft after collecting opinions from ministries and relevant agencies and would submit it to the Government in the next few days.

This move follows the ministry’s largest single reduction of business procedures in history – it abolished 675 business and investment procedures, equivalent to 55.5 per cent of the total conditions. 

Accordingly, the draft proposes removing those business conditions that wholesale gas traders must satisfy as prescribed under Decree No 19, including number of gas tanks, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders and bottles under their ownership and business scale.

Also, gas importers and exporters will be relieved from certain stringent conditions, such as having a storehouse with total capacity of gas tanks of at least 3,000cu.m for LPG, 60,000cu.m for LNG and 200,000cu.m for compressed natural gas (CNG); or having LPG cylinders of total capacity of at least 3.93 million litres.

Gas importers, exporters and distributors will no longer be required to own LPG bottle-filling stations and gas-filling stations for vehicles and gas stations, the draft says.

Under Decree No 19, gas traders must set up their own distribution systems, which may create obstacles for them during operation.

The draft proposes removing this condition, allowing enterprises to decide whether to set up their own distribution systems based on size and capacity.

It added several safety requirements for gas-storing facilities, including gas tanks, gas storehouses, gas pipelines and gas filling and supply stations, as well as bottled LPG retail stores, LPG bottle manufacturing and repair establishments.

The draft, therefore, focuses on regulations to ensure safety, health and rights of consumers, and is the foundation for State management agencies for post-checks.

The ministry has prepared the draft decree to fix shortcomings in the current decree, which is believed to have caused difficulties for businesses.

The current decree was promulgated on March 22, 2016, replacing Decree No 107/2009/NĐ-CP on November 26, 2009, on gas trading to facilitate gas companies. — VNS