The ANP published last Wednesday (2/9) Resolution 828/2020, which improves the system for sending product quality data by producers and importers of fuels and biofuels. The new resolution requires the sending of quality information for all regulated products (national and imported) and the use of a computerized system, called i-Engine, which will replace the sending of spreadsheets.

The resolution's objective is to simplify procedures, reduce bureaucracy for economic agents and, mainly, allow greater efficiency in monitoring and processing data by the ANP, generating information on the quality of fuels produced and imported in Brazil in a more agile and safe way.

Before Resolution 828/2020, the rules on sending quality data were included in the resolutions that dealt with the specifications of each fuel - that is, they were set out in 12 different resolutions. In addition, part of the products produced in the country did not have this standard formalized in resolutions, and the sending of quality data is done at the direct request of the ANP to each agent.

Now, the rules have been consolidated into a single resolution, which includes all domestic and imported products. Thus, the new standard gives equal treatment to all products.

Another novelty brought by Resolution No. 828/2020 was the institution of the i-Engine system, replacing spreadsheets that were sent by e-mail. The ANP received about one thousand spreadsheets per month, whose data were processed manually. The i-Engine, which was already used at the Agency for the exploration and production segment (upstream), will allow the sending and processing of data electronically, with minimal cost, or even without cost to economic agents.

The monitoring and treatment of the quality data of regulated products allows the ANP to: provide an overview of the quality of fuel in the producer and importer; more quickly identify product non-conformities and the responsible agents; guide the planning of inspection actions; reduce regulatory costs in quality control; and subsidize the decision-making process in the review of product specifications.

In the case of imported products, this information is included in the product quality certificates, issued by inspection companies accredited by ANP and contracted by the economic agents themselves. In the case of products produced in the country, the producer himself has the obligation to issue the quality certificate, carrying out the analysis through suitable laboratories (own or contracted). The laboratories that carry out the analyzes for issuing these certificates are subject to inspection by the ANP, whether from the inspecting firm, the producer itself or from third parties.