Over 400 illegal filling stations operating in Ukraine, with one quarter of them in Lvov region

MOSCOW. Oct 14 (Interfax) - The number of filling stations involved in illegal activity in Ukraine reached 419 as of September 2024.

"Illegal filling stations continue to operate, undermining the economy, competitiveness of legal market entities and posing a threat to individuals and the surrounding infrastructure," Ukrainian media quoted the Oil and Gas Association of Ukraine as saying in a statement.

The Lvov region has the largest number of such stations with 98 filling stations (23%), followed by the Odessa region with 42 filling stations (10%) and the Ivano-Frankovsk region with 41 filling stations (10%), the statement said.

"Illegal market entities are selling counterfeit fuel, evading taxes and disregarding safety requirements both for others and for their own employees. This allows them to offer fuel at prices sometimes below the cost of production, which creates unfair competition and drastically lowers budget revenues," the association's president Yaroslav Starovoitenko was quoted as saying in a statement.

Illegal filling stations are operating with breaches of the current Ukrainian legislation, as they fail to provide a fiscal receipt, lack information about the operation of the cash register in the test mode and have no consumer corner, which should contain information about the owner of the filling station, fuel prices and documents on the quality of products, it said.

These filling stations are placed in violation of urban planning legislation, they lack fire-extinguishing equipment, and the fuel is sold from tank trucks or portable jerry cans in garages.