Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

Legal arguments began yesterday in the motion brought by four major oil companies which are challenging Regulations stipulating the method by which fuel should be measured and the type of equipment which must be used.

The claimants, Texaco, Esso, Total and Cool Petroleum, are asking the Full Court to find that the Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce exceeded his authority when he passed the Regulations in 2004.

Minister has no authority

The Regulations were passed following complaints by some members of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association that they were suffering losses due to shrinkage caused by temperature changes from the point of delivery to the point when gasolene was received for storage.

The Regulations were passed under the Weight and Measures Act of 1976.

Attorney-at-law Georgia Gibson Henlin, instructed by the firm Nunes Scholefield DeLeon and Co., argued yesterday that the minister had no authority to stipulate the method by which petroleum was measured or the equipment used to do so. She said his only authority was to stipulate units of measurement and standards of measurement.

Technical difficulties

The companies are claiming that the Regulations will impose technical and administrative difficulties on them, and they were not consulted before the Regulations were passed. It is also their contention that compliance with the Regulations will increase cost to them and also increase overall costs to consumers.

They claim further that the Regulations were intended to benefit the retailers. They claim also that there was no mechanism whereby the benefits being passed to retailers will be passed on to the consumers.

Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh, Justice Horace Marsh and Justice Roy Anderson are hearing the motion.