Can somebody please comment on the following:

1. Do we need to carry out "freedom to operate" checks on prior to commercially producing biodiesel? This is to ensure that somebody else's intellectual property is not violated,,

Can somebody suggest if people who are selling biodiesel in Australia are operating after legal checks on "freedom to operate".

I was under the impression that all we need is "license to manufacture" and "excise registration" without further legal ensurity on "freedom to operate"..

Kindly advise.

Sorry that I cannot contribute... I'm only starting to research the issue, have not much of an idea what you actually have to do without geting into conflict with the law and would be most interested to hear what experienced members have to say.

Cheers, Livos

Hi Tassie, I've not heard the term "freedom to operate" before, but as far as I know, as long as you keep the taxman happy, you can do what you want.
However, keeping the taxman happy involves the following:
If you make biodiesel to sell, obviously you have to charge GST on it, but more importantly, you also have to pay 38c/L excise. You can be excused from the excise if you can prove to the taxman that the biodiesel you make meets the Australian Spec (which is quite hard to achieve for home production). The hardest part of this is that every batch that you make has to be tested, which is a very expensive operation.
As such, the selling of backyard biodiesel is a bit of a nasty trap and it is not hard to see why the folk who do it do it in such a secretive manner.
If you are thinking of producing biodiesel to spec, then you will be among a growing number of biodiesel industry producers in Australia, but I think the first in Tasmania.
Check out the industry forum section if you want to see what the producers were talking about at their last meeting.

__________________
Robert Fyvie
Site Admin
Sydney Biodiesel Users' Group and Australian Biofuel Users


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Hi Tassie,

Maybe this is of "help" although obviously meant to prevent the use of biodiesel...

Cheers, Livos