TUESDAY, March 19, 2024
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Commerce Ministry set to propose modified retail and wholesale bill to Cabinet

Commerce Ministry set to propose modified retail and wholesale bill to Cabinet

THE COMMERCE MINISTRY will this month again try to propose the draft Retail and Wholesale Business Act for Cabinet’s approval, with the aim of controlling aggressive expansion of hypermarkets and protecting local businesses under the spectre of globalism. 


Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said that the move came after the National Legislative Assembly ordered the ministry to propose a modified version of the original draft act for Cabinet ratification before it was passed to Parliament for endorsement.
Thailand has tried several times to pass a retail bill since 2001 but all efforts failed because of the long process of adjustment and disagreements among involved parties.
“The ministry agreed that Thailand needs to have a law to regulate retail and wholesale businesses as well as to promote the development of small retailers and wholesalers. However, the new law should not harm new business growth, while it should be up to date to meet the present circumstance,” Apiradi said.
Santichai Santawanpas, a subcommittee member on commerce at the ministry, said the NLA would like to get the act passed this time to ensure that Thailand had a new law in place to regulate retail and wholesale businesses.
He said the new draft law should be able to control retail and wholesale business expansion, with regulations that restrict where businesses could operate in and also control the number of retail and wholesale branches to ensure local communities received corporate tax payments in accordance with the number of branches and income generated.
He suggested that during the waiting period for the new bill’s enshrinement in law, Thailand should enforce the Building Control Act 1979 and consider whether to allow the expansion of retail and wholesale businesses, while the revenue law should be amended to increase tax collection efficiency.
The retail and wholesale sector in Thailand is worth Bt1.69 trillion, or 12.87 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. It employs 6.6 million people.
Between 2001-2014, the number of retail and wholesale outlets increased an average 26 per cent a year from 2,589 outlets in 2001 to 16,629 outlets in 2014. 
 

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