Compliance… the one word that sends shivers down the spine of every gas station owner.
Honestly speaking, we all hate it!
Unfortunately, we cannot avoid it… For the good of our consumers, for the good of our business, and for the good of our environment!
Talk about putting a positive spin on things—HA!
But why are we ruining your day talking about compliance?
Put simply: Because you’ve got two very important regulatory deadlines coming up.
Coincidentally, they both are falling in the month of October… Thankfully, two separate Octobers—October of this year (2018) and October of 2020.
Some of you might have already guessed the two regulatory deadlines we are referencing here. Those of you who haven’t, well, we’re talking about:
- The EPA’s pending UST regulations, and
- The EMV deadline.
What do you need to know about these two pending regulations?
EPA’s updated UST regulations
Compliance deadline: October 13, 2018
Compliance premise: UST releases at gas stations are a major environmental concern. These releases spread from the UST sites and contaminate our environment including soil and water bodies. This contamination puts our existence at risk. Plants die, fishes are killed, and our food and water sources become poisoned.
Over the years, the EPA and gas stations have worked together to mitigate risks of UST releases at UST sites. This new regulation is a part of this same endeavor, further reinforcing UST release prevention, detection and control systems at gas stations.
Compliance requirements: The EPA has published a detailed list of regulatory requirements under the update. It basically encompasses the methods and techniques to help gas stations improve UST release prevention, detection and control practices at their sites. You can learn more about these requirements by clicking here.
EMV deadline
Compliance deadline: October 1, 2020
Compliance premise: Security remains a big challenge in the payment sector, especially with societies worldwide moving towards a cashless economy. Cards are the new cash, and the swipes and taps are the new way of paying at shop counters. Where the move has benefitted us in terms of convenience and speed, security remains a big issue in such transactions. Card data is being copied and counterfeit cards are being readily produced. Cases of fraud payments have risen and gas stations (among other businesses) are feeling the heat.
Solution? A new technology in card payment that which we call the EMV-chip technology. This technology makes card payments more secure. Other industries have already adopted the technology, but it’s implementation still remains lacking in the fuel retailing sector. And you have got until October 1, 2020 to establish compliance.
Compliance requirements: You need to update your payment processing system and install terminals at your gas station that accept EMV chip cards. For more details, please click here.
Are you ready for these regulatory changes?
The John W. Kennedy Company is standing by to help you.
We are one of the leading and oldest distributors of gas station equipment, petroleum tanker parts, and supplies in the US. We sell high-end UST leak detection systems, UST release control systems, EMV-compliant POS systems and everything else you need to keep your gas station operational, safe, efficient and compliant.
For more details please call (800) 238-1225 or fill out our contact form.