Complying with the mandates

Who must meet the sustainable biobased petrol mandate?

Liable fuel retailers are required to sell at least the minimum amount of sustainable biobased petrol.

A fuel retailer is a liable retailer if they:

• own or operate 10 or more sites
• or
• sell more than 500,000 litres of all grades of petrol at any site in a calendar quarter.

Sites that sell low aromatic fuel are not liable to sell the minimum amount.

To comply with the Liquid Fuel Supply Act 1984, liable fuel retailers must either:

• sell the minimum amount of sustainable biobased petrol
• or
• hold an exemption.

Fuel retailers that are not required to sell the minimum amount do not need to seek an exemption. However, some reporting and registration obligations apply to all fuel retailers, regardless of whether or not they are required to meet the minimum sales amount in the Act.

How is the minimum amount of sustainable biobased petrol calculated?

A liable fuel retailer that owns or operates 10 or more sites is required to sell the minimum amount (4%) calculated from the volume of regular and ethanol-blended petrol sold from their business as a whole (i.e. all sites).

A liable fuel retailer with 9 or fewer sites is only required to sell the minimum amount (4%) if any one of their sites sells more than 500,000L in total of any grade of petrol in a calendar quarter. The minimum amount is calculated from the volumes of regular petrol and ethanol-blended petrol sold only from those sites that sell more than 500,000L. However, the required sales of ethanol can come from any of the liable retailers' sites across their portfolio.

Fuel retailers should refer to manufacturing specifications to ensure the compatibility of infrastructure on their sites, and seek professional advice specific to their site and equipment if required.

Check your ethanol sales percentage

Fuel retailers can use the ethanol mandate calculator to check their ethanol sales percentage.

Check your ethanol sales percentage

Who must meet the sustainable biobased diesel mandate?

Fuel wholesalers that sell fuel for delivery in Queensland have a liability (0.5% biobased diesel) applied to diesel sales.

The biobased diesel mandate does not apply to the sale of diesel fuel by a fuel retailer.

The wholesale diesel obligation under the Act is designed to capture diesel sales from fuel wholesalers that are made to fuel retailers and bulk-end users (such as transport depot, agricultural and mining uses). It is not intended to capture sales from one wholesaler to another where that wholesaler is selling the volume on to another entity (for example selling to another retailer, or a bulk-end user).

How is the minimum amount of sustainable biobased diesel calculated?

It is up to an individual fuel wholesaler how they choose to meet the requirements of the Act. For example, the fuel wholesaler could choose to blend all diesel that is captured by the Act at 0.5%, or it could choose to blend a smaller volume at a higher concentration to achieve the same outcome.

Ongoing compliance

We encourage fuel seller compliance with the Act by providing education and information. We also visit fuel sellers to monitor and investigate compliance as required. Ideally, cases of inadvertent non-compliance will be corrected through counselling and feedback.

The Biofuels Mandate Compliance and Enforcement Strategy (PDF, 533KB) outlines legislative obligations and helps fuel sellers understand the general approach to compliance and enforcement of the Act. Each instance of non-compliance with the Act will be considered individually on its own facts and circumstances.

Fuel sellers that do not comply with the Act may face penalties. Prosecution of a fuel seller will only be enforced after careful consideration. If an alternative to prosecution is available, and is more effective in achieving the objects of the Act, then the alternative will be considered.

Taking reasonable steps to comply

Fuel sellers who take 'all reasonable steps' to comply with the Act but fail to sell the minimum required amount of biofuel may avoid penalties. To support such a defence, a fuel seller may provide evidence of:

• efforts made to secure enough supply of a sustainable biofuel blend
• efforts made to promote the sale of a sustainable biofuel blend
• any upgrade of infrastructure arranged to enable enough sales of a sustainable biofuel blend
• facilities made available for the sale of a sustainable biofuel blend.

You can get more information by reading the Guideline for fuel sellers – reasonable steps for achieving the sustainable biofuel requirement (PDF, 785KB).

The guideline provides a range of examples and suggestions for demonstrating that you have taken all reasonable steps when responding to our requests for information. These examples are not the only reasonable steps a fuel seller may take, and not all examples will apply to every fuel seller.

Find out more

• Read about Queensland biofuels mandates consultations.