Estonian fuel retailer Olerex has been fined €6M (US$6.3M) for biofuel violations and alleged market distortion, ERR News reported from an article by investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress.
The fine followed a decision by the country’s Supreme Court to uphold a previous €300,000 (US$315,000) penalty against the company for failing to meet biofuel obligations in 2022, the 11 December report said.
The latest fine related to Olerex’s use of used cooking oil (UCO) in fuel.
While UCOs are permitted in meeting biofuel requirements, this is only within a set limit, according to the report.
In 2022, Olerex had exceeded this limit without properly accounting for the excess, Eesti Ekspress wrote.
Discovered during an audit by the Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet) in March 2023, the company’s actions had brought it significant financial savings which, in turn, had given the company an unfair competitive advantage, the board noted.
In its decision, the board said: “The obligations arising from the Liquid Fuel Act are supposed to be fulfilled by all participants in the fuel market, and the economic benefit obtained by Olerex’s violation endangers fair competition in the fuel market of the Republic of Estonia.”
Olerex’s lawyer Oliver Nääs said the company would be challenging the decision.
The company had made efforts to comply in 2023, providing regular updates on how it planned to meet its biofuel obligations, he said.
Nääs also said the regulations were ambiguous which led to confusion.
“Olerex came under the scrutiny of government agencies on the fulfilment of its 2022 biofuel obligation and so tried to be meticulously correct in 2023, providing information throughout the year on how it planned to meet the biofuel obligation,” Nääs was quoted as saying.
“No objections were made to Olerex within the scope of this supervisory procedure, yet the Environmental Board later concluded that the requirements had not been met.”
