Cabinet asks Excise Dept to ease rules for small craft beer makers

The Cabinet has instructed the Excise Department to amend its regulations governing the beer industry to end the monopoly held by large producers and allow small craft brewers to enter the canned beer market.

Government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat said the Cabinet issued the directive during its weekly meeting on Tuesday, following a briefing on the Ombudsman’s Office decision that the department’s current rules may not comply with the new Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which aims to break monopolies in the alcohol industry.

Siripong said the Cabinet ordered the Excise Department to consider revising its regulations and announcements to ensure that beer production — particularly canned beer — is no longer monopolised, and that ordinary people can more easily start brewing businesses.

He noted that the existing requirements — such as high production capacity, use of high-power machinery, and mandatory environmental impact assessments — have effectively barred small-scale brewers from entering the canned beer market.

The Cabinet agreed with the Ombudsman’s Office that the rules should be amended, and therefore directed the Excise Department to revise them to support small-scale producers.

Siripong added that while the Cabinet did not oppose the department’s quality-control measures for canned beer, it asked that other regulatory restrictions be relaxed to promote fairer competition.