• The Trade Inspection questioned 1.88 percent of liquid fuel samples checked last year. This is marginally higher than in 2019 (1.86 percent).
• Irregularities were less frequently found in petrol than diesel oil.
• Current inspection results are available on the UOKiK's website. From June 2021, it will also be possible to check fuel quality in the Yanosik navigation application.

The Trade Inspection (IH) checked several types of liquid fuels available on the market. These include diesel oil, petrol, LPG and biofuels. During the first check in 2003, the percentage of liquid fuel samples that failed to meet quality requirements was as high as 30 percent. In subsequent years, the number of irregularities has declined and remained below 4 percent since 2016.

"As a result of monitoring the Polish liquid fuel market, its quality has been improving year by year. The detected irregularities have been oscillating at a level below 4 percent for several years now. In 2020, only less than 2 percent of petrol and diesel oil samples collected at petrol stations failed to meet the quality standards. Irregularities were less frequently found in petrol than diesel oil" says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

How do we do it?

Liquid fuel quality control is performed on a two-way basis. Firstly, the President of UOKiK randomly selects stations for inspection by the relevant regional Trade Inspection authorities – it appears that this method most accurately reflects the actual picture of fuel quality in Poland. Secondly, the IH checks businesses against which there have been complaints, about which it received information from law enforcement, or in which it has previously found irregularities. We inspect fuel producers, wholesalers, as well as entrepreneurs running petrol stations and warehouses.

Despite the systematic nature of inspections, the percentage of fuels not meeting quality requirements varies from year to year. It results from various factors, such as the number of businesses inspected, samples taken and changing quality requirements.

Checks in 2020

In 2020, a total number of 1,491 liquid fuels samples were collected for testing at stations and wholesalers, of which 779 samples were petrol and 712 were diesel oil. 28 samples failed laboratory tests (23 samples of diesel oil, 5 samples of petrol), which is 1.88 percent of all samples tested. The percentage of questioned fuel samples varied significantly between voivodships. During random checks of petrol stations, the most irregularities were found in Zachodniopomorskie (6.25%), Lubuskie (6.06%) and Pomorskie (3.45%) voivodships. In turn, with regard to checks of entrepreneurs selected, for example, based on information acquired from drivers, the most irregularities were detected in Opolskie (15.38%), Warmińsko-Mazurskie (10.00%) and Pomorskie (9.09%) voivodships.

As part of the LPG check, the inspectors questioned 0.84 percent of tested samples collected at petrol stations. They did not find any irregularities during their inspection of the wholesaler. The quality control of light fuel oil was successful – all samples met the quality requirements established in the regulation (similarly to the checks performed in 2013-2019).

Questioned parameters

The number of irregularities associated with the excessive sulfur content – for both diesel oil and petrol – has been low for several years.

Petrol

The most frequently questioned element was the reasearch octane number (RON), which may be the cause of engine knocking, i.e. abnormal combustion procecess causing loud and erratic engine operation, as well as increased fuel consumption.

Diesel oil

The most frequently questioned elements were:

Oxidation stability, i.e. oxidation resistance reported in hours, which may manifests by fuel turbidity and the appearance of resinous deposits in the fueal tank. It may lead to the clogging of fuel filters, contamination of injection valves and other malfunctions in various parts of the fuel supply system.

Too low ignition temperature, which creates a risk of explosion of oil vapours when pouring fuel from the pump into the tank.

LPG

The most frequently questiond elements are the corrosive effects on copper and the exceedance of the permissible level of total sulphur content, which may result in the corrosion of certain engine components.

Activities of the Trade Inspection

The Trade Inspection issued 10 decisions to withdraw fuels that do not meet the relevant standards from the market and provided the President of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE) with information on 20 cases of non-compliance with the terms of liquid fuel trading licences and provisions of the Energy Law. The President of URE may impose a financial penalty on entrepreneurs who violate the terms of their licences by selling fuel of improper quality.

IH also handed over 18 notices of suspected crimes to the locally competent regional prosecutors. The current legislation provides for severe penalties for trading in poor quality fuel – a fine of up to PLN 1 million or imprisonment for 3 months to 5 years. The inspectors also forwarded the check results to the appropriate services – the National Revenue Administration and the Police. The President of UOKiK has initiated 27 administrative proceedings (including 6 concerning checks conducted in 2019) and issued 31 decisions (including 11 regarding checks performed in 2019).

The ongoing checks in 2021

From January until the end of April 2021, a total of 532 samples of liquid fuels have been collected for testing, including 248 samples of petrol and 284 samples of diesel oil. To this date, it was found that 12 liquid fuel samples do not meet quality requirements. This number represents 2.26 percent of the samples tested. Most of them were diesel oil. All gas (LPG) samples collected during this period met the quality requirements.

For consumers

We would like to remind consumers that they can check the quality of fuel available at stations inspected by UOKiK. This information is available in the form of a fuel map located on the Office's website. Moreover, Neptis has integrated data from checks performed by UOKiK into its Yanosik navigation application. With the June update, the application will allow verifying which stations have passed the UOKiK's quality check.

"The purpose of inspecting fuels available at petrol stations is to ensure that they are of the highest quality and safe for use by consumers and entrepreneurs. We encourage anyone potentially interested in this topic to use the data available thanks to our efforts. The check results are available to the public and updated on an ongoing basis," claims Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

If, when refuelling, the pump indicates an amount of fuel several litres greater than the capacity of the vehicle tank, contact the Central Office of Measures. Inspectors of the Office of Measures may check the designated station and verify whether the pump gauge shows the correct amount of fuel filled.

See the full 2020 report on liquid fuels inspections and preliminary results of 2021 checks.

Consumer assistance:

Phone: 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer hotline
E-mail: [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE]
Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or county
Trading Standards Inspection – in your province

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL