site.btaConsumers' Transport Costs to Be Compensated by Charge on Petroleum Products Derived from Russian Oil

Bulgaria's Parliament on Thursday passed conclusively an Act on Compensation of Transport Costs to Consumers.

In the final version as passed, the title of the law was changed from Act on Compensation of Motor Fuel Consumers' Costs.

The law regulates the terms and procedure for the levy of monthly charges on petroleum products manufactured in Bulgarian territory from crude oil originating from Russia or exported from Russia and the spending of the proceeds from the charges to compensate consumers' transport costs. The obligation to pay such charges is incurred by the manufacturers of such petroleum products.

Under the law, the coefficient for calculation of monthly charges due to the Electricity System Security Fund for petroleum products derived in Bulgaria from Russian crude oil was increased to 0.7 from 0.5 in the initial draft. The rate of the charge depends on the average monthly price per barrel of Brent crude and of oil originating or exported from Russia.

The monthly average will be calculated on the basis of the price at which the two oil grade trade on three leading world commodity exchanges for the month concerned. The Minister of Economy and Energy is bound to publish the rate of the monthly charge on the Ministry's website by the 15th day of the current month, based on information that the Director of the National Customs Agency is supposed to submit to the Minister information by the 5th day of the month regarding the quantity of crude oil by grade and origin imported into Bulgaria.

The proceeds from the charges will be spent on financial support to natural persons under programmes approved by the Government. The terms and procedures for the provision of the financial resources and the persons entitled to such support will be determined by a Council of Ministers decree.

Information on the proceeds from the charges will be provided by the 25th day of each month by the Electricity System Security Fund. The Council of Ministers may suspend the financial support programmes for lack of resources. 

The Act will enter into force three days after the completion of a notification procedure under Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services.