Supreme Decree amends regulations on commercialization and safety of Liquefied Petroleum Gas and issues new provisions
By Supreme Decree Nº 019-2021-EM (“Supreme Decree“), published on July 22, 2021 in the Official Gazette “El Peruano”, the Regulation for the Commercialization of Liquefied Petroleum Gas was amended and adopted by Supreme Decree Nº 01-94-EM (“Commercialization Regulation“), the Safety Regulation for LPG Installations and Transportation, adopted by Supreme Decree Nº 27-94-EM, the Regulation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Establishments for Automotive Use – Natural gas Service Stations, adopted by Supreme Decree Nº 019-97-EM, the Glossary, Acronyms and Abbreviations of the Hydrocarbons Subsector, adopted by Supreme Decree Nº 032-2002-EM, and Supreme Decrees Nº 065-2008-EM, Nº 022-2012-EM and 009-2020-EM.
The Supreme Decree (i) amends the regulation of the Tank Inspection Record Books of Bottling Plants, LPG Vehicle Units, Gas Centers, LPG Direct Consumers and LPG Distribution Networks; (ii) optimizes the safety standards of the internal installations of the LPG Direct Consumers and the LPG Distribution Networks; (iii) specifies the obligations of the Sales Premises and the Bottling Companies to optimize the commercialization of LPG packaged in cylinders; (iv) delimits the scope of the activities carried out by some agents of the commercialization chain; and (v) reinforces the safety in the disposal of goods and/or seized hydrocarbons, among others.
Among the various provisions introduced by the Supreme Decree, we highlight the definition of the Co-Responsibility Contractual Agreement and the LPG Maquila Contract in the Commercialization Regulation; the consequent regulation of the LPG bottling service provided between Bottling Companies; and the creation of the Registry of Installers that OSINERGMIN must implement for the registration of the professionals that shall be in charge of the design, construction, maintenance and repair of the facilities of Bottling Plants, LPG Direct Consumers, LPG Distribution Networks and Sales Premises. As indicated in the Supreme Decree, in the event of any loss derived from a deficient or defective installation, the aforementioned installers shall be jointly and severally liable with the owners of the LPG facilities during the three (3) years following the installation, unless the owner of the facility or another installer makes any modification to such facilities during that period.
Osinergmin has been in charge of establishing a schedule for the different agents to adapt to the changes made.
Any questions on this matter may be answered by Doctors Jorge Pérez-Taiman (jpereztaiman@estudiorodrigo.com), Carolina Noriega (cnoriega@estudiorodrigo.com), Piero Scarafone (pscarafone@estudiorodrigo.com) and/or Talía Hormaeche (thormaeche@estudiorodrigo.com).
