North fuel shoppers face €4 fine per litre (Updated)

Those crossing to the north with the sole purpose of filling up their cars with petrol face a fine of €4 per litre, a customs department official said Thursday.

Customs department spokesman George Constantinou told the Cyprus Mail that “increased checks to prevent fuel smuggling from the occupied areas mean that customs officials at the checkpoints are also inspecting private cars – when they have reasonable suspicion or any other information”.

He told Brief that if it is proven that a person crossed for the sole purpose of getting petrol then a fine of €4 per litre will be imposed.

“We have already noticed that when an official records the details of the crossing – fuel quantity and time of crossing – many people turn back and leave without crossing to the occupied areas,” Constantinou was quoted as saying.

His comments caused confusion as late last month President Nikos Christodoulides said on the issue that “I understand when it is for private use”.

The government has made clear that it is not illegal for Greek Cypriots to fill their tanks in the north.

Indeed, Constantinou said that while their focus is on the commercial nature of fuel being brought back, they are also checking private vehicles. Just recently, the spokesman said, they found 160 litres of petrol stored in eight containers in a saloon car.

But the spokesman insisted that “private vehicles are also checked and the details of when they crossed are recorded so that if upon their return it is clear that they only went to the occupied areas to fill up and for no other reason, then a fine is imposed.

“For example, if someone crosses for just a few minutes and it is discovered through checks that they filled up then obviously this is unrelated to the Green Line Regulation – therefore the sole reason for crossing is to avoid taxes on fuel.”

He added that in such a situation a fine is imposed according to the amount of fuel purchased.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Constantinou confirmed that private vehicles can be checked and fined if a customs official at the crossing point determines that “someone crossed to the occupied areas just to fill up the tank”.

These checks already exist, but would be intensified, he said.

But as a matter of policy, customs officers will pay more attention to private commercial vehicles – vans, mini-buses, taxis, trucks.

The official said the point is to “prevent abuse” of the Green Line Regulation, which allows for trade between the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots.

Essentially the fine is dished out on the basis that someone avoided paying fuel tax applicable in the Republic, and therefore is breaking the law.

We pointed out to Constantinou that a person filling up their car in the north is buying petrol in another jurisdiction – not in the Republic – where Republic of Cyprus taxes don’t apply, therefore he or she would not technically be avoiding paying sales tax to the Republic.

“We don’t recognise any ‘jurisdiction’, ‘authority’ or ‘state’ in the occupied areas,” he offered.

It remains to be seen how effective the beefed-up checks will prove. It’s well known anecdotally, for example, that tankers often cross to the north through uncontrolled points – like Pyla – and fill up with petrol there.

The price of petrol and people filling up their cars in the north has gained renewed attention after the cabinet scrapped the reduced rates of VAT.

That led to an additional 8.3 cents per litre on petrol, which came into effect on June 30.

That, in turn, led to petrol station owners holding a demonstration on June 27 to protest over what they describe as government inaction which facilitates fuel bring brought over from the north.

Speaking at the protest, head of the petrol station owners association Savvas Procopiou attacked statements made by Energy Minister George Panastasiou the previous day that individuals are allowed to fill up in the north.

“We completely disagree with the statement of the energy minister, he cannot say with such ease that the public should visit the occupied areas to buy petrol,” he said.