Chamber of Deputies Approves Bill That Mandates Greater Transparency from Companies on Fuel Prices with ANP

The Bill Approved by the Chamber of Deputies Requires Monthly Data Submission on Fuel Prices to ANP to Ensure Greater Transparency Regarding the Prices Charged for the Sale of Products and Derivatives.

Last Tuesday, (06/07), the Chamber of Deputies approved a new Bill by representative Arnaldo Jardim (Cidadania — SP), which replaced Bill No. 3677/21, authored by representative Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG) and the Workers’ Party (PT) bench. Thus, the text goes to the Senate, but aims to mandate monthly submissions of fuel price data to the National Agency of Petroleum (ANP), to ensure greater transparency to the public.

The Bill by Representative Arnaldo Jardim Aims to Bring Greater Transparency to the Public Regarding Fuel Prices and Goes to the Senate.

The new text of Bill No. 3677/21, authored by representative Arnaldo Jardim (Cidadania-SP), was approved by the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday and will create mechanisms for even greater transparency to the public regarding fuel prices in Brazil. This is yet another strategy by the government to ensure a more open discussion with the public about the abusive prices currently charged for fuels and their derivatives.

Thus, the text of the representative’s Bill now goes to the Senate and will be reviewed by the team for a vote and possible future approval. However, some other proposals that were part of the original text were removed, which would have allowed for limits on oil exports and control of Petrobras prices via ANP. This is because the agency would have to define the maximum price for production and commercialization of fuels, but the initiative was not well received by the Chamber of Deputies.

If approved, the Bill will require fuel-producing companies in Brazil to submit monthly to ANP the average values of eleven components that make up the consumer prices of the fuels for which they are responsible, which are:

• average production cost of domestically sourced oil;
• average production cost of domestically sourced natural gas;
• purchase cost of oil, when applicable;
• billing price at the production unit;
• billing price of importers;
• gross margin for fuel distribution;
• gross margin for retail sales of automotive fuels;
• taxes related to shipping to the distribution base, when applicable;
• freight from the production unit to the distribution base or, in the case of ethanol, to the gas station;
• freight from the distribution base to the retail gas station;
• taxes.

ANP Must Inform the Public Monthly of the Price of Each Fuel if the Bill Approved by the Chamber of Deputies Is Accepted by the Senate.

In addition to the reports that companies must send to ANP regarding fuel prices, the agency will have to publicly disclose monthly on the internet the composition of five types of these fuels: automotive gasoline, diesel oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), aviation kerosene (QAV), and hydrated ethanol, with the main data that finalize the selling price.

Furthermore, ANP will also have to conduct monthly disclosures of the average selling prices of natural gas to pipeline gas distributors. Finally, although it does not set maximum and minimum prices to be charged for fuels, the Bill pressures companies such as Petrobras to adopt a more accessible pricing structure for the final consumer regarding the products.

This is the new initiative of the Chamber of Deputies to mitigate the political and economic instability surrounding Brazil regarding fuels at present and, now, it awaits only the Senate’s vote for possible approval and implementation into Brazilian legislation.