The Resources Authority condemned the “irresponsible behaviour” of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, the GRTU, which had claimed petrol station owners were not responsible for the fuel they sold.

It criticised a statement by the GRTU which referred to notices in petrol stations, recently issued by the authority, stating that the diesel was a seven per cent mix of biodiesel.

The GRTU said the owners were in no way responsible for the mix of fuels they sold or for the effect it might have on vehicles. The mixed diesel was supplied from two authorised sellers, the chamber said.

However, the Resources Authority said this statement was only intended to create “uncertainty” and confirmed there had been no change to the diesel sold locally. The labelling reflected the fuels already on the market.

It also pointed out that the notices put up in the petrol stations “weren’t something new” but were a condition of the licence to run a petrol station – of which all owners had a copy.

The labelling exercise would provide consumers with complete information on the content and composition of fuels to protect their interests together with information on the supplier or importer of the fuels to allow people to make a choice, the authority said.

The labelling includes details of the name of the supplier and reference of the fuel specification. Each label, with the exception of the label identifying the supplier, is colour coded.

The diesel specifications are printed on a black background, petrol on a green background and biodiesel on an orange background. The exercise was already under way and was expected to be completed in the coming days, the authority said.­­