Article 100p. 100

NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS STATUTES and IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS

Section 81. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect

on the fifteenth day following its publication in at least

two (2) national papers of general circulation.

RA No 8479 | Downstream Oil Industry

Deregulation Act of 1998

February 10, 1998

AN

ACT

DEREGULATING

THE

DOWNSTREAM

OIL

INDUSTRY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

➔

See IRR here

➔

See IRR Amending Section 14

Be

it

enacted

by

the

Senate

and

House

of

Representatives

of

the

Philippines

in

Congress

assembled:

CHAPTER I General Provisions

Section 1. Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the

"Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998."

Section 2. Declaration of Policy. – It shall be the policy of

the State to liberalize and deregulate the downstream oil

industry in order to ensure a truly competitive market

under a regime of fair prices, adequate and continuous

supply

of

environmentally-clean

and

high-quality

petroleum products. To this end, the State shall promote

and encourage the entry of new participants in the

downstream

oil

industry,

and

introduce

adequate

measures to ensure the attainment of these goals.

Section 3. Coverage. –This Act shall apply to all persons or

entities engaged in any and all activities of the domestic

downstream

oil

industry,

as

well

as

persons

or

companies

directly

importing

refined

petroleum

products for their own use.

Section 4. Definition of Terms. – For purposes of this Act,

the following terms are hereinbelow defined:

(a) Basel Convention shall refer to the international

accord

which

governs

the

trade

or

movement

of

hazardous and toxic wastes across borders;

(b) Board shall refer to the Energy Regulatory Board;

(c) BOI shall refer to the Board of Investments;

(d) Crude Oil shall refer to oil in its natural state before

the same has been refined or otherwise treated, but

excluding

water,

bottoms,

sediments

and

foreign

substances;

(e) Dealer shall refer to any person, whether natural or

juridical, who is engaged I the marketing and direct

selling of petroleum products to motorists, end users,

and other consumers;

(f) DOE shall refer to the Department of Energy;

(g) DOJ shall refer to the Department of Justice;

(h) Downstream Oil Industry(DOI) or Industry shall refer

to the business of importing; exporting, re-exporting,

shipping,

transporting,

processing,

refining,

storing,

distributing, marketing and/or selling crude oil, gasoline,

diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene, and

other petroleum products;

(i) Hauler shall refer to any person, whether natural or

juridical, engaged in the transport, distribution, hauling,

and carriage of petroleum products, whether in bulk or

packed form, from the oil companies and independent

marketers

to

the

petroleum

dealers

and

other

consumers;

(j) LPG Distributor shall refer to any person or entity,

whether

natural

or

juridical,

engaged in exporting,

refilling, transporting, marketing, and/or selling of LPG to

end users and other consumers;

(k)

New

Industry

Participants

shall

refer

to

new

participants

in

a

particular

sub-sector

of

the

downstream oil industry with investments and initial

business operations commencing after January 1, 1994;

(l) Person shall refer to any person, whether natural or

juridical,

who

is

engaged

in

any

activity

of

the

downstream oil industry;

(m) Petroleum shall refer to the naturally occurring

mixture of compounds of hydrogen and carbon with a

small proportion of impurities and shall include any

mineral

oil, petroleum gas, hydrogen gas, bitumen,

asphalt,

mineral

wax,

and

all

other

similar

or

naturally-associated substances, with the exception of

coal,

peat,

bituminous

shale

and/or other stratified

mineral fuel deposits;

(n) Petroleum Products shall refer to products formed in

the case of refining crude petroleum through distillation,

cracking,

solvent

refining

and

chemical

treatment

coming out as primary stocks from the refinery such as,

but not limited to: LPG, naphtha, gasolines, solvents,

kerosenes, aviation fuels, diesel oils, fuel oils, waxes and

petrolatums,

asphalt,

bitumens,

coke

and

refinery

sludges,

or other such refinery petroleum fractions

which have not undergone any process or treatment as

to produce separate chemically-defined compounds in a

pure or commercially pure state and to which various

substances

may

have been added to render them

suitable for particular uses: Provided, That the resultant

product contains not less than fifty percent (50%) by

weight of such petroleum products;

(o)

Singapore

Import

Parity(SIP)

shall

refer

to

the

deemed landed cost of a petroleum product imported

from Singapore at a free-on-board price equal to the

average Singapore Posting for that product at the time

of loading;

(p)

Singapore

Posting

shall

refer

to

the

price

of

petroleum products periodically posted by oil refineries

in Singapore and reported by independent international

publications; and

(q) Wholesale Posted Price (WPP) shall refer to the

ceiling price of petroleum products set by the Board

based on its duly approved automatic pricing formula.

CHAPTER

II

Liberalization

of

the

Downstream Oil Industry and the Promotion

ofFree Competition

Section 5. Liberalization of the Industry. – Any law to the

contrary notwithstanding, any person or entity may

import

or

purchase

any

quantity of crude oil and

petroleum products from a foreign or domestic source,

lease

or

own

and

operate

refineries

and

other

downstream oil facilities and market such crude oil and

petroleum products either in a generic name or his or its

own trade name, or use the same for his or its own

requirement:

Provided,

That

any

person

who

shall

engage in any such activity shall give prior notice thereof

to the DOE for monitoring purposes: Provided, further,

That such notice shall exempt such person or entity from

securing certificates of quality, health and safety and

environmental clearance from the proper governmental

agencies: Provided, furthermore, That such person or

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