New Jersey State Regulations for Fueling Stations

• Filling upgas station image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
  
  Fueling stations are an important part of transportation infrastructure, providing fuel and other products and services for motorists and commercial drivers. Because of the danger posed by flammable fuel, strict safety regulations govern the operation of gas stations. In the state of New Jersey, these regulations take some distinct forms.
  
  

Full Service

• One of the most well-known and controversial New Jersey regulations for fueling stations is that drivers are not allowed to dispense their own gas. The Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act states that only a professional gas station attendant with special training may dispense fuel.
  
  This means that all of New Jersey's gas stations are full service, which is sometimes offered as a convenience option alongside self-service pumps in other states. The purpose of this regulation in New Jersey is to prevent spills and other accidents that can occur when fuel is dispensed.
  
  

Signage Laws

• New Jersey law also mandates that fueling stations display accurate and consistent signage indicating the available grades of gasoline and the pricing for each grade. In 2008 state inspectors cited hundreds of stations that failed to meet this regulation; in many cases a fueling station displayed two or more different prices for the same type of gasoline. Other stations failed to indicate the octane of fuel.
  
  

Safety Laws

• New Jersey enforces a series of general safety laws for fueling stations. These include periodic inspections of pumps and tanks, along with some more commonsense regulations, such as the prohibition of smoking by gas station attendants or customers.
  
  

Pricing Laws

• New Jersey maintains regulations that govern the pricing of gasoline. While each fueling station may set its own price for each grade of fuel, it may not change the price more than once within a 24-hour period.
  
  New Jersey also charges a special tax for automobile fuel that fueling stations must collect and document. For each gallon of gasoline, New Jersey charges a 14.5 percent tax. A 17.5 percent tax applies to each gallon of diesel fuel.