Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Refined Oil Circulation

People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, and various ministries and commissions of the State Council:

Finished oil is a fundamental and strategic resource related to the national economy and people's livelihood, closely related to the operation of the national economy and people's production and life. In order to further improve the management system for finished oil circulation and promote the high-quality development of finished oil circulation, the following opinions are proposed with the approval of the State Council.

1. Improve the management system for finished oil circulation

(1) Improve the management system for finished oil wholesale and storage. Implement record management for finished oil wholesale and storage operations. Enterprises engaged in finished oil wholesale and storage operations must hold a business license that includes finished oil wholesale and storage in its scope of operation, obtain a hazardous chemicals business license and a port operation license according to the "Regulations on the Safety Management of Hazardous Chemicals" and other relevant laws and regulations, and register with the business department according to relevant regulations. They must present the registration receipt to the tax department to activate the finished oil invoice issuance module. Finished oil wholesale and storage enterprises that have not obtained a hazardous chemicals business license or a port operation license, or whose relevant licenses have expired, must legally register for a change in the scope of their business license and must not engage in finished oil wholesale and storage activities before obtaining the licenses. The Ministry of Commerce is responsible for formulating operational guidelines for the record management of finished oil wholesale and storage enterprises. Departments such as transportation, commerce, emergency management, taxation, and market supervision should strengthen the comparison and sharing of relevant information about finished oil wholesale and storage enterprises.

(2) Improve the management system for finished oil retail. Formulate and strictly implement a unified national qualification access standard for finished oil retail operations. Approval departments should enter the licensing results into relevant information systems and promptly disclose and notify relevant departments. It is strictly prohibited to alter, resell, rent, lend, or transfer finished oil business licenses. Unauthorized expansion or reconstruction of finished oil retail outlets is strictly prohibited. Establish an annual supervision and inspection system for finished oil retail enterprises, and order enterprises that do not accept inspections or fail inspections to rectify within a specified time.

(3) Improve the enterprise ledger management system. Supervise enterprises to strictly implement the finished oil ledger management regulations, accurately calculate and report the purchase and sale and inventory data of oil products, improve the archives of certificates and materials such as the source of finished oil, sales destination, inspection reports, and inspection records, and maintain complete ledgers for reference. Implement a real-name registration system for the purchase and sale of bulk gasoline. Organize "double random, one public" supervision, focusing on inspecting the establishment and implementation of the enterprise ledger system, guiding enterprises to continuously improve the accuracy and timeliness of the ledger, and legally handling any illegal activities found.

(4) Improve the enterprise credit management system. Promote the graded and classified management of credit for finished oil operating enterprises, incorporating oil quality measurement standards, tax compliance, and emergency supply situations into the enterprise credit records based on daily supervision of enterprises. Increase exposure of dishonest entities according to laws and regulations to enhance the effectiveness of credit supervision. Based on the credit status of enterprises, adopt differentiated measures in terms of supervision methods, sampling ratios, and frequencies.

2. Improve the cross-departmental regulatory mechanism for finished oil circulation

(5) Establish a local cross-departmental joint regulatory mechanism. Local people's governments at all levels must strictly implement their regulatory responsibilities, establish a cross-departmental joint regulatory mechanism for finished oil circulation, coordinate the allocation of administrative penalty functions and law enforcement resources, clarify the responsibilities of the leading regulatory department, law enforcement department, and other relevant departments, specify specific regulatory measures, promote smooth connections between administrative approvals, daily supervision, and comprehensive law enforcement, and enhance the capacity for cross-departmental joint regulation and law enforcement cooperation. People's governments of provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) must establish a coordination and contact system for the supervision and administrative law enforcement of the finished oil circulation industry in their regions and report to the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration for Market Regulation.

(6) Strictly implement the relevant requirements of comprehensive administrative law enforcement reform. If local business law enforcement functions are integrated into comprehensive law enforcement departments such as market regulation, these departments must earnestly implement the requirements of the "Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement" and other comprehensive law enforcement reform documents, strengthen comprehensive law enforcement inspections, and investigate and handle clues according to laws and regulations; industry authorities such as commerce must effectively fulfill their daily supervision responsibilities, conduct on-site and off-site inspections, and promptly transfer any illegal clues found. If local business law enforcement functions have not been transferred, industry authorities such as commerce must be responsible for daily supervision and administrative law enforcement.

(7) Strengthen the sharing and application of upstream and downstream data in finished oil circulation. Regularly collect and share basic information about enterprises involved in finished oil production, operation, transportation, opening finished oil invoice issuance modules, and business licenses that include finished oil operations, as well as the scope of national industrial product production licenses that include finished oil. Explore the collection of oil tank liquid level monitoring data and deepen the sharing of key data such as production processing of refining enterprises and inventory management of gas stations.

(8) Enhance the digital regulatory level of finished oil circulation. Encourage localities with conditions to promote the use of big data, the Internet of Things, and other technological means, advance the construction of smart gas stations and a big data management system for finished oil circulation, and accelerate the establishment of a full-chain, traceable dynamic regulatory system covering wholesale, storage, transportation, and retail links, enhancing the effectiveness and service level of digital regulation in the finished oil circulation field.

3. Strengthen the supervision of key areas in finished oil circulation

(9) Strengthen safety production supervision. Strictly implement safety production supervision responsibilities in the finished oil circulation field. Strengthen safety supervision of finished oil circulation, guide and urge finished oil operating and transportation enterprises to establish and improve safety production management systems, risk prevention mechanisms, and hidden danger investigation and management mechanisms, strictly implement safety production laws, regulations, and standards, increase the intensity of safety production supervision and inspection in the finished oil circulation field, and promote enterprises to effectively enhance their safety production management levels.

(10) Strengthen environmental protection compliance management. Continuously strengthen the supervision and rectification of oil and gas emissions exceeding standards in the finished oil circulation link. Increase the intensity of random inspections of oil and gas recovery systems and online monitoring systems. Strengthen the supervision of underground storage tank leaks at gas stations, ensuring that the double-layer tanks or leak-proof pools and other leak-proof measures and monitoring systems used at gas stations are complete and effective to prevent soil and groundwater pollution.

(11) Strengthen quality measurement supervision. Strengthen the random inspection and testing of finished oil, enhance the traceability of non-compliant oil products, and prevent non-compliant oil products from entering the market. Legally combat illegal acts of cheating using fuel dispensers, strictly implement and continuously optimize the approval system for fuel dispenser types and measurement verification systems, increase supervision and management of measuring instruments such as fuel dispensers, and conduct training and publicity on fuel dispenser verification procedures and type evaluation outlines, continuously promoting research on anti-cheating and anti-tampering functions of fuel dispensers, and organizing the formulation of testing specifications for deceptive use characteristics of fuel dispenser software.

(12) Regulate the behavior of selling finished oil on the Internet. Strictly implement the relevant regulations on the safety management of hazardous chemicals sold on the Internet. E-commerce platforms must not provide finished oil sales information release services for operators within the platform. Standardize and orderly carry out the qualification licensing for finished oil retail operations, ensuring "one station, one certificate," and prohibit issuing finished oil retail operation approval certificates to e-commerce platforms; those already issued must be rectified by the issuing department within six months from the date of this opinion's release.

(Thirteen) Strictly crack down on illegal and irregular activities. Local people's governments at all levels must coordinate the supervision and investigation of illegal and irregular activities in the finished oil circulation field, and it is strictly prohibited to sell vehicle fuels that mainly consist of gasoline or diesel and do not comply with national policy regulations under the guise of "new energy," "alternative energy," etc. Serious investigations should be conducted into behaviors such as substandard oil quality, illegal blending of finished oil, and selling non-standard oil products as engine fuel to finished oil retailers or engine fuel users. Designated departments should take the lead in regularly carrying out special rectification work for unlicensed and unregistered operations in the finished oil circulation field, and severely crack down on unlicensed operations and behaviors that disrupt market order, such as self-built oil tanks, mobile refueling vehicles (ships), and black gas stations.

Four, promote the modernization of finished oil circulation development.

(Fourteen) Optimize the layout of retail outlets. Scientifically formulate the development plan for the finished oil retail system, coordinate urban and rural development, intensively utilize land, and reasonably layout gas station networks. Plan the construction of gas stations in urban areas and along highways in an orderly manner, encouraging large backbone enterprises to further extend the retail system to rural and remote areas to meet the fuel needs of urban and rural residents.

(Fifteen) Improve service levels at outlets. Accelerate the transformation of the development model of finished oil circulation, focusing on ensuring market supply, strengthening the supply capacity construction of key areas, key fields, and key gas stations (points), improving emergency supply measures for finished oil, and ensuring stable oil supply during important events and major activities. Localities can establish and improve corresponding management regulations based on actual conditions. Under the premise of ensuring safety, support gas stations to set up convenience stores according to their conditions, and offer services such as convenient car washing, auto parts maintenance, and upkeep.

(Sixteen) Support the upgrading and transformation of rural refueling points. Implement support policies for the construction of rural gas stations, encouraging eligible rural refueling points to upgrade to gas stations to meet the fuel needs of production and life in rural areas. Guide rural gas stations (points) to reasonably expand non-oil business in line with rural consumption characteristics, comprehensively enhance the ability to serve "three rural issues," and assist rural revitalization.

(Seventeen) Promote the development of chain operations for finished oil retail enterprises. Encourage finished oil retail enterprises to develop into specialized and vertical chain brand enterprises, and support small and medium-sized gas stations (points) to achieve unified procurement, unified distribution, and unified management through legal entrusted operations, leasing operations, joint ventures, and cooperation, enhancing branding and chain levels. In conjunction with the annual inspection of enterprises, publicly disclose information related to finished oil wholesale, storage, and retail enterprises that have standardized operation management, complete equipment and facilities, and good operating conditions and credit, supporting quality enterprises to grow and strengthen, and promoting scaled and standardized development.

(Eighteen) Accelerate the development of green and low-carbon transformation. Carry out oil and gas recovery management and groundwater pollution prevention work at gas stations in the finished oil circulation field. Support finished oil operating enterprises in researching and applying new technologies and new equipment to enhance safety, environmental protection, and resource utilization levels. Promote the quality upgrade of finished oil and the development of clean alternative energy, research and formulate circulation management policies for green clean fuels such as biodiesel that are encouraged for application by the state and have already issued mandatory national standards, assisting in the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient modern energy system. Further standardize the market order of biofuel ethanol and vehicle ethanol gasoline.

Five, guarantee measures.

(Nineteen) Strengthen organizational leadership. All regions and departments must effectively raise their political stance, resolutely implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, earnestly fulfill local and departmental regulatory responsibilities, strengthen overall coordination, improve work mechanisms, clarify responsibilities, perform duties in accordance with laws and regulations, further improve the management system for finished oil circulation, and focus on promoting standardized, orderly, and high-quality development of finished oil circulation. The Ministry of Commerce should strengthen overall coordination and work with relevant departments to promote the implementation of these opinions.

(Twenty) Improve the incentive and restraint mechanism. All regions can make use of existing funding channels to support government departments in strengthening big data management and regulatory information sharing applications, further improving government governance capabilities. Timely summarize and promote advanced experiences and innovative practices, report and interview typical cases of ineffective promotion and slow progress, and order rectification to ensure that all tasks and measures are implemented.

(Twenty-one) Create a good development environment. Strengthen publicity and guidance, provide good policy interpretation, and respond to social and corporate concerns. Actively organize training on finished oil circulation management work, strengthen cooperation and communication among various regions and relevant departments, and continuously improve management and service levels. Fully leverage the role of industry organizations in rights protection, dispute resolution, industry credit building, and credit supervision, guiding them to establish and improve industry operating norms and self-discipline agreements to standardize corporate behavior.

General Office of the State Council
January 27, 2025