Learn about the procedures for registered dyers when a coloured fuel dye injector fails to properly colour fuel.

Ministry of Finance contacts are available for assistance throughout the province.

Coloured fuel

Coloured fuel is diesel fuel intended for non-taxable purposes, such as home heating or to power unlicensed farm or construction equipment. Red dye is injected into clear fuel by a registered dyer (an agent of the Minister of Finance) to produce coloured fuel on which tax will not be collected and to distinguish it from clear tax-paid fuel.

Equipment malfunctions

A dyer must immediately report to the Ministry of Finance any malfunction or breakdown of the dye equipment. Call a Field Operations Manager without delay. Calls after hours, on weekends and on holidays will be responded to on the next business day.

Ministry of Finance - Field Operations Managers:

Procedure if an injector malfunctions at a terminal

  1. Disable the affected coloured fuel loading arm.
  2. Contact a Ministry of Finance Field Operations Manager to request authorization to “break the seal” on the faulty equipment.
  3. If your call is not answered, leave a voicemail message detailing the following:
    1. Collector Name
    2. Terminal Location
    3. Injector Number
    4. Time of Malfunction
    5. Terminal Operator Name
    6. Nature of the incident (why it happened? – if known)
    7. Your request for authorization to “break the seal”
  4. Take fuel sample(s) from affected deliveries, that is, fuel in tankwagon compartments.
  5. If samples appear to be coloured but below specifications (170 ppm), add Ontario dyestuff at a rate of 1 litre of dye per 5,555 litres of fuel.
  6. Proceed to repair the injector.
  7. When the Ministry of Finance inspector arrives, they will:
    • inspect the remedial action taken
    • check/copy documents such as loading tickets, bills of lading, delivery invoices, repair reports/invoice
    • ensure the injector is working properly
    • pick up or obtain samples of coloured fuel for quality assurance testing.

The registered dyer is responsible for ensuring that coloured fuel is coloured to the specifications established by the Minister, manually adding dye if necessary. In a case where, through mechanical failure, clear fuel has been loaded into an empty compartment when coloured fuel was requested, the product must either be hand dyed or rebranded to clear fuel and fuel tax charged accordingly. See section 5 of Regulation 464, R.R.O. 1990, under the Fuel Tax Act for details.

Contact us

If this information does not completely address your particular situation, refer to the Fuel Tax Act and related regulations or contact:

Ministry of Finance
Compliance Branch
Inspections Section
33 King Street West
Oshawa ON L1H 8H9