Version No. 014
Fuel Prices Regulation Act 1981
No. 9702 of 1981
Version incorporating amendments as at 1 January 2010
table of provisions
Section Page
ii
Section Page
1 Short title and commencement 1
2 Definitions 1
3 Appointments 2
4 Declaration of secrecy 3
5 Production of books etc. 4
6 Power to declare fuel 5
7 Determination of maximum prices, rates etc. 5
8 Sale of fuel and supply of service in one transaction 8
9 Transactions may be declared to be sales 8
10 Power to prohibit certain transactions 9
11 Power of Minister to suspend order etc. 10
12 Power to prohibit sale of fuel before maximum price or
rate fixed 11
13 Inter-wholesale transaction 11
14 Inter-retail transactions 13
15 Delivery of invoice or docket with declared fuel 14
16 Particular with respect to declared fuel to be exhibited 14
17 Advertisements as to declared fuel 15
18 Application of orders etc. 15
19 Books, accounts etc. to be kept and preserved 16
20 Statements that prices have been approved by the Commissionerprohibited without his approval 17
21 Sale of fuel subject to condition to refund excess price
prohibited 18
22 Offence to sell fuel at price higher than maximum price 18
23 Sale of declared fuel with undeclared fuel 20
24 Offering to pay higher price for declared fuel etc. 21
25 Delivery of fuel less in quantity or inferior in quality to those sold 21
26 Production of genuine invoices as evidence 22
27 Alteration of size of containers or quantity or ingredients of declared fuel 22
28 Sales by auction 24
29 Offences and penalties 24
30 Regulations 25
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ENDNOTES 26
1. General Information 26
2. Table of Amendments 27
3. Explanatory Details 28
ii
Version No. 014
Fuel Prices Regulation Act 1981
No. 9702 of 1981
Version incorporating amendments as at 1 January 2010
An Act with respect to the Regulation of Prices for certain Fuel and for other purposes.
28
Fuel Prices Regulation Act 1981
No. 9702 of 1981
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to say):
1 Short title and commencement
(1) This Act may be cited as the Fuel Prices Regulation Act 1981.
(2) This Act shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation of the Governor in Council published in the Government Gazette.
2 Definitions
In this Act unless inconsistent with the context or subject-matter—
authorized officer means any person appointed by the Minister or the Commissioner to be an authorized officer for the purposes of this Act;
Commissioner means the Prices Commissioner appointed under this Act;
declared fuel means any fuel declared under this Act to be declared fuel for the purposes of this Act;
prescribed means prescribed by this Act or the regulations;
price includes every valuable consideration whatsoever, whether direct or indirect;
regulations means regulations made under this Act.
3 Appointments
s. 3
(1) For the purposes of this Act the Governor in Council shall appoint a fit and proper person to be the Prices Commissioner.
(2) In the case of the illness or absence of the Commissioner or in the event of the office of Commissioner becoming vacant the Governor in Council may appoint a fit and proper person to be Acting Prices Commissioner during the illness or absence of the Commissioner or until the appointment of a Commissioner (as the case may be) and the Acting Prices Commissioner shall have all the powers and perform all duties of the Commissioner.
(3) Every such appointment shall be for such period and on such terms and conditions and with entitlement to such remuneration and travelling and other expenses as the Governor in Council determines.
S. 3(4)(a) amended by Nos 46/1998
s. 7(Sch. 1), 108/2004 s.117(1) (Sch.3 item85), substitutedby No. 80/2006 s.26(Sch. item 43).
(4) (a) The Public Administration Act 2004 (other than Part3 of that Act) applies to a person so appointed in respect of his or her office, but if any such person is at the time of his appointment an employee in the public service he shall, subject to that Act, continue to be an officer of the public service;
S. 3(4)(b) amended by No. 50/1988 s.93(2)
(Sch. 2 Pt 2 item 20) (as amended by No. 81/1988 s.34(c)).
(b) If any person so appointed is at the time of his appointment an officer within the meaning of the State Superannuation Act 1988 he shall, subject to that Act, continue to be an officer within the meaning of that Act.
4 Declaration of secrecy
s. 4
(1) The Commissioner and every member of any advisory committee and every other person exercising any power or performing any duty under this Act shall before entering on his duties under this Act sign a declaration of secrecy in accordance with the prescribed form.
(2) All such declarations of secrecy shall be lodged with and retained by the Commissioner.
(3) A person shall not except in the course of his duty under this Act (including any interchange of information with persons or bodies regulating prices in other States which is considered expedient in relation to the co-ordination of the regulation or decontrol of prices by the States) directly or indirectly communicate or divulge any information relating to any matter which comes to his knowledge in consequence of his official position under this Act.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit—
(a) the Commissioner, whenever he considers it necessary or desirable in the interests of justice so to do—
(i) from communicating to the Attorney-General any information which comes to his knowledge in consequence of his official position and which makes it appear that any person has committed or is suspected of having committed or is about to commit an offence against any law relating to secret commissions;
(ii) from producing to the Attorney-General for use in connexion with the prosecution of a person for any such offence any documents books or papers containing any such information;
(b) any person exercising any power or performing any duty under this Act from answering any question relating to any such offence which he is required to answer when called as a witness in the prosecution of a person for that offence.
5 Production of books etc.
s. 5
(1) The Commissioner or an authorized officer may, at any time by notice in writing, require any person at such time and place as are specified in the notice, to produce such books as are so specified, being books relating to the sale of fuel by or on behalf of that person, or under an agreement to which that person is or was a party, at premises that are or have been owned by that person or in respect of which that person is or was a lessee or licensee.
(2) A person who fails to comply with a requirement made under this section is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by a fine not exceeding 10 penalty units.
(3) In this section, books includes any record of information, any accounts or accounting records, however compiled, recorded or stored, and any document.
6 Power to declare fuel
s. 6
(1) The Minister may by notice published in the Government Gazette declare that any area specified by him shall, for the purposes of this Act, be a proclaimed area or part of a proclaimed area.
(2) The Minister may, by notice published in the Government Gazette, declare any kind or kinds of fuel to be declared fuel for the purposes of this Act.
(3) Any declaration by the Minister in pursuance of this section may be made generally or in respect of any part of the State or any proclaimed area or in respect of any person or body or association of persons.
(4) Any such notice may, by notice published in the Government Gazette, be amended, varied or revoked by the Minister.
7 Determination of maximum prices, rates etc.
(1) The Commissioner may, with respect to any declared fuel, from time to time, by order published in the Government Gazette—
(a) fix and declare the maximum price at which any such fuel may be sold generally or in any part of the State or in any proclaimed area; or
(b) declare that the maximum price at which any such fuel may be sold by any person, shall be such price as is fixed by the Commissioner by notice in writing to that person.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Commissioner shall, before causing an order referred to in subsection (1) to be published in the Government Gazette, serve a copy of the proposed order on the Minister and shall not cause the proposed order to be so published—
(a) unless the Minister has within fourteen days of receipt of the proposed order informed the Commissioner that he does not propose to give him a direction under paragraph (b); or
(b) if the Minister, in the public interest, has within fourteen days of receipt of the proposed order directed the Commissioner not to publish the proposed order.
(3) In particular, but without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the Commissioner, in the exercise of his powers under that subsection, may fix and declare—
(a) different maximum prices according to differences in quality or description or in the quantity sold, or in respect of different forms, modes, conditions, terms, or locations of trade, commerce, sale or supply;
(b) different maximum prices for different parts of the State, or in different proclaimed areas;
(c) maximum prices on a sliding scale;
(d) maximum prices on a condition or conditions;
s. 7
(e) maximum prices for cash, delivery or otherwise, and in any such case inclusive or exclusive of the cost of packing or delivery;
(f) maximum prices on landed or other cost, together with a percentage thereon or a specified amount, or both;
(g) maximum prices according to or upon any principle or condition prescribed by the Commissioner; and
(h) maximum prices relative to such standards of measurement, weight, capacity, or otherwise howsoever as he thinks proper, or relative to prices charged by individual traders on any date specified by the Commissioner, with such variations (if any) as in the special circumstances of the case the Commissioner thinks fit, or so that such prices shall vary in accordance with a standard, or time, or other circumstance, or shall vary with profits or wages, or with such costs as are determined by the Commissioner.
(4) Where the Commissioner makes an order in the form authorized by subsection (3), the Commissioner shall, on application by a seller of the fuel to which the order relates, furnish him with a copy of the list of prices referred to in the order.
(5) An order under this section may contain such incidental and supplementary provisions as are necessary or expedient for the purposes of the order.
(6) The Commissioner may at any time by order published in the Government Gazette amend, vary or revoke any order made under this section.
s. 7
(7) Every order made under this section shall take effect upon the date specified in the order or, if no date is so specified, upon the date of the publication of the Government Gazette containing it.
(8) Every order which has been, or is, made under subsection (1) (not being an order in respect of specific fuel) shall apply in relation to all fuel which is declared, whether before or after the making of the order, to be a declared fuel and in respect of which the declaration is in force.
8 Sale of fuel and supply of service in one transaction
s. 8
(1) The powers of the Commissioner of or in relation to fixing and declaring the maximum price at which any declared fuel may be sold shall be deemed to extend to and in relation to the fixing and declaring of the maximum remuneration for the sale of any declared fuel and the provisions of this Act (whether relating to the powers of the Commissioner or to any other matter) shall apply, mutatis mutandis, accordingly.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, and of any order or notice under this Act, whether made or given before or after the commencement of this Act, unless the contrary intention appears, the sale of any fuel shall be deemed to include the supply, in connexion with the sale (whether or not for a separate remuneration) of any service customarily supplied by vendors and customarily included in the price in connexion with such a sale in the ordinary course of business without any separate remuneration.
9 Transactions may be declared to be sales
(1) The Commissioner may, by order published in the Government Gazette, declare that, where a person (in this section referred to as the agent) purchases fuel (whether declared fuel or not) as agent, or purported agent, for another person (in this section referred to as the principal) and processes or treats the fuel and delivers fuel resulting from the processing or treatment to the principal, the carrying out of the agency (or purported agency) and the performance of the other services by the agent shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a sale of the fuel so delivered by the agent to the principal at a price equal to the sum of the amounts paid or payable by the principal to the agent in respect of the agency and services (including the price paid by the agent for the fuel purchased by him) and the order shall, for the purposes of this Act, have effect according to its tenor.
(2) The Commissioner may, either generally by order published in the Government Gazette, or specifically by notice in writing, exempt any person or class of persons from the operation of any order made under this section.
10 Power to prohibit certain transactions