The Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) has called for the immediate and indefinite suspension of Section 136 of the Customs Act, 2026 (Act 1179), describing the provision as the most significant change to downstream petroleum taxation in recent years and one enacted without industry consultation, supporting evidence or a published impact assessment.
The Chamber argued in a press release issued on Wednesday, October 1, 2026 and signed by CEO/Industry Coordinator of COMAC, Dr. Riverson Oppong, that the section seeks to shift the tax collection point rather than address what it views as the core problem, which is weak enforcement of existing controls.
It further described Section 136 as a transfer of risk rather than reform and reiterated its commitment to partnering with government to strengthen compliance and revenue assurance under the existing mechanism on the basis of evidence, accountability and mutual respect.
The chamber warned that the change risks higher costs for consumers, threats to fuel supply security, and slower government revenue collection.
Section 136 transfers the downstream petroleum tax obligation from Oil and LPG Marketing Companies (OMCs/LPGMCs) to Bulk Import, Distribution, and Export Companies (BIDECs).
The section also tasks BIDECs to account for tax at the point of sale, with the Commissioner-General permitted to defer payment for up to 21 days against a bank guarantee; a situation which COMAC said would help concentrate the sector’s heaviest tax burden at a single point in the supply chain and moves liability currently secured by marketers’ guarantees, insurance bonds, and self-recognisance.
COMAC stressed that arrears reflect an enforcement challenge rather than a design flaw. Existing ICUMS controls, including credit limits and automated restrictions, were not consistently enforced, with system overrides allowing operators to exceed approved limits.
Shifting the collection point, the chamber said, does not solve this problem and risks repeating it at national scale until overrides are properly restricted, authorised, time-bound, and fully traceable.
The chamber noted it was not consulted prior to passage despite ongoing engagement with the Ghana Revenue Authority, National Petroleum Authority, and the Ministries of Finance and Energy & Green Transition. A post-passage implementation meeting, COMAC said, amounts to notification rather than consultation.
COMAC maintained that an estimated 819,248,990 litres of unaccounted product from COMAC’s FY2025 analysis (with a revenue implication of approximately GHS 2.5 billion), for which no substantive response has been received four months after submission; ten diesel tankers impounded in October 2025, with basic ownership and designation details still outstanding; and the grant of non-bonded status to three operators in what appears to depart from published criteria.
COMAC has, therefore, called for immediate and indefinite public suspension of Section 136 by the Minister of Finance, retention of the existing framework, with BIDECs paying import duties and port charges at importation while OMCs/LPGMCs continue accounting for taxes and levies ex-pump and full written disclosure of how operators were allowed to lift beyond approved credit limits and payment deadlines, plus corrective measures.
They also demanded an independent review of non-bonded status grants and all material system overrides and formal substantive responses on the unaccounted product and impounded tankers.
The chamber has, therefore, placed its members on alert and expects the Ministry of Finance to announce the suspension within 14 days.
COMAC further threatened that it will convene an emergency general meeting to agree next steps through legitimate administrative, regulatory, and legal channels.
“COMAC has no interest in disruption, given the essential service its members provide to households and businesses,” the release stated.
“The industry, however, is unable to operate with confidence under a framework that has not been tested, explained, or justified, and which in its view shifts the risk of enforcement failures to operators and ultimately to the Ghanaian consumer.”
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
