In order to effectively prevent illegal activities such as manufacturing and selling fake petroleum products, the government operates a supply and demand reporting system to catch any anomalous signs in advance by receiving trading information from petroleum business entities.
However, confidentiality provisions are set forth in the current Act, which speculates that the government may use the data only for the control, reflecting the opinion that the reporting data are trade secrets of business entities. However, there is a problem that the information is not provided smoothly because the provisions on the use of information in the current Act conflicts with the provisions on the petroleum trading data that can be requested under the respective laws relevant to the National Tax Service and investigation agencies.
Moreover, it is continuously pointed out that the excessive confidentiality principle of the current Act hinders the efficient use of the information in considering that petroleum trading information is highly valuable for analysis of trends in related industries such as energy and environment and for policymaking. Therefore, while the amendment adheres to the principle of confidentiality, it aims to eradicate more effectively the illegal production and sale of fake petroleum products and also to create a ground for flexible utilization of the petroleum trading information by newly establishing some conditions to relax the confidentiality of oil transaction information (Article 38-3 (2) newly inserted).
On the other hand, the current Act provides grounds to grant a monetary reward when anyone reports the fact of manufacturing and selling fake petroleum products by making the activities subject to report. Accordingly, while illegal activities of fake petroleum products recently are decreasing from 237 cases in 2015 to 177 cases in 2018, illegal activities to sell kerosene as fuel for vehicles are increasing rapidly from 119 in 2015 to 302 in 2018.
However, because there is no legal basis for granting monetary reward for reporting illegal acts other than fake petroleum, there is no incentive for active reporting and control. Accordingly, this amendment aims to expand the scope of the reward by adding the act of selling kerosene as a vehicle fuel to the subject of the reward in the current Act (revising Article 41-2 (1)).