2023-09-27 11:23:00
High prices at the pump are pushing more and more motorists to drive on red, in other words, on heating oil. This is obviously illegal. To counter the inventiveness of fraudsters, customs are developing new detection techniques.
Taking your fuel and checking its color are essential steps in customs control. The objective is to identify the heating oil using a specific marker and a red dye.
But in most cases, scammers manage to remove it, which will soon change. “There was a way to hide the fraud, but now, with the new marker, it’s almost impossible to extract it”assures Kristian Vanderwaeren, the general administrator of Belgian customs.
A new marker applicable throughout the European Union. For customs, this is an important step forward. On the road, heating diesel is therefore prohibited. The State collects almost 40 cents per liter less compared to ordinary diesel.
“In 2022, we carried out a little less than 30,000 checks and 2,000 were positive. This is an increasing figure in terms of the percentage of positive checks. In particular because we are better targeting the vehicles checked. We are going to target repeat offenders”, indicates Florence Angelici, spokesperson for the federal public finance service.
Among the samples sent to the laboratory, 18% are positive. With the new marker, customs hopes to see this figure decrease. “We are in a transitional phase. Currently, we can use the old marker and the new one. From January 19, 2024, only the new one can be used in Belgium. For the moment, we are carrying out an analysis on all the samples”, explains Inge Vinckier, the director of the Belgian customs laboratory.
If you drive red diesel, the fine amounts to 500 euros and can go up to 1250 euros in the event of a repeat offense.
diesel fuel customs
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