The Commerce Ministry has joined forces with 10 government agencies to establish measures to reduce the volume of low-priced, substandard imported goods, noting that they pose a safety risk to consumers buying from both online and offline vendors.
Vuttikrai Leewiraphan, the commerce permanent secretary, said the emergence of Chinese e-commerce platforms using a direct-to-customer model gives buyers direct access to cheap products made in Chinese factories.
This development could have a detrimental impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) acting as middlemen to import products from China, he said.
The model is poised to disrupt the entire supply chain of both large operators and SMEs, said Mr Vuttikrai.
He said relevant agencies have been assigned to review whether existing regulations and laws can be used to control or restrict the scale of operations of such e-commerce platforms, aiming to improve consumer safety and promote fair trade.
The agencies include the Finance Ministry, Customs Department, Revenue Department, Industry Ministry, Digital Economy and Society Ministry, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of the Board of Investment, Office of the Consumer Protection Board, Department of Special Investigation and the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA).
Goods sold both offline and online must meet the certification standards from Thailand's FDA and the Thai Industrial Standards Institute.
Following random inspections of imported products sold in Thailand, some of the sellers were not Thai nationals, nor did they have visas, work permits or business licences.
The Commerce Ministry plans to coordinate with relevant agencies to investigate businesses suspected of circumventing the provisions of the Foreign Business Act, with violations to be prosecuted under the laws of each agency.
The Commerce Ministry ordered the Customs Department to submit a list of the top 10 imported products for consideration of further measures, and the ministry assigned relevant agencies to review whether existing laws governing the sale of online products require the physical presence of representatives in Thailand.
The Royal Decree on Digital Platform Service Business Requiring Notification (2022) states that a digital platform provider must notify the ETDA prior to commencing business operations, and annually thereafter.
"Measures will focus on tightening law enforcement monitoring by the authorities in the short and medium term," Mr Vuttikrai said.