E-trade system by year-end

E-trade system by year-end

The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), under the umbrella of the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, says it will implement an e-trade document system by year-end to promote exports via electronic channels.

"We are positioning ourselves as a project management office responsible for e-commerce promotions and supporting policies," said ETDA executive director Surangkana Wayuparb.

The ETDA will serve as a collaborating centre for e-commerce ecosystem development to boost the country's e-commerce transactions.

Thailand's e-commerce market in the business-to-business, business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-government segments is expected to grow by 12.4% to 2.5 trillion baht in 2016.

Mrs Surangkana said the ETDA will continue encouraging businesses to go online, as part of the government's digital economy push.

The ETDA also plans to introduce e-document standards to facilitate online trading, such as e-invoice and ePhyto, an electronic phytosanitary certificate required for agriculture-related exports.

"We aim to reduce the document processing time to 40 days, down from two months for paper-based processes," said Mrs Surangkana.

Mrs Surangkana also said the ETDA plans to hold a public hearing on the e-commerce development master plan (2017-18) this month. The hearing is scheduled to be held at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.

By collaborating with the Revenue Department and Thailand Post, the ETDA aims to bring down local logistic costs for e-commerce products in order to improve the competitiveness of local e-commerce operators.

A slew of special tax incentives are being considered by the government for small online merchants with sales revenue of 3-5 million baht to enhance their competitiveness.

Thailand's B2C e-commerce market was the largest in Asean in 2015, worth US$15.7 billion.

Mrs Surangkana said the ETDA also plans to talk with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to pressure mobile operators to lower their 3G and 4G wireless broadband service charges.

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