Commerce Ministry Steps Up Measures To Control Import Goods

[Jai Dee]

Commerce Ministry steps up measures to control import goods

Commerce Ministry has revised various Acts to control the quantity of import goods.

Mr.Krirkkrai Jiraphaet (เกริกไกร จีระแพทย์), the Minister of Commerce, revealed that Commerce Ministry has proposed drafting Act to control the number of import products, to prevent oversupply in the country. As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Thailand has to abide to the rules of importing goods from other members.

As a result Thailand may be faced with an oversupply of import goods. To curb oversupply, the Commerce Ministry has drafted several Acts and propose them to the Cabinet.

The Act was reportedly approved by the committee on Jan 25th.

Mr. Krirkkrai further explained that the Act will be announced in the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 29 January 2007

[stoneman]

Does anyone else have a problem with an non-elected military junta enacting trade laws that will be effective after they leave? Isn't this work that should be done after the new constitution is approved and new elections have been held.

[wintermute]

Ahh yes more ingenious business acts to piss people off. Controlling import goods will just drive up prices and may in fact break existing trade agreements. I can't wait to see the fallout on this one.

[cclub75]

Does anyone else have a problem with an non-elected military junta enacting trade laws that will be effective after they leave? Isn't this work that should be done after the new constitution is approved and new elections have been held.

The answer is obvious : they think they will stay... a long time. A very long time...

[Tony Clifton]

quantity of import goods.

If it means less massive dumping from China, less cheap plastic junk, less electrical accessories that break after a week, why not. Most of it is and can be manufactured here already, not that the life expectancy will be much higher.

[cclub75]

If it means less massive dumping from China, less cheap plastic junk, less electrical accessories that break after a week, why not. Most of it is and can be manufactured here already, not that the life expectancy will be much higher.

And less BMW and Mercedes ?

The pattern is getting clear, day after day : nationalism/isolationism.

I'm sorry, but it starts to stink.

[h90]

quantity of import goods.

If it means less massive dumping from China, less cheap plastic junk, less electrical accessories that break after a week, why not. Most of it is and can be manufactured here already, not that the life expectancy will be much higher.

That will only result that the same cheap plastic junk will cost the double.

If you don't want that, you need to enforce a new warranty law.

[Old Man River]

This one sounds like an open invitation for future corruption. I am sure they will allow easy import of raw materials that will be exported post manufacturing, so this has to be about imports for local consumption and normally that is, as CClub has pointed out, BMW's and Mercedes. Maybe they are trying to build up the used car industry.

[TAWP]

quantity of import goods.

If it means less massive dumping from China, less cheap plastic junk, less electrical accessories that break after a week, why not. Most of it is and can be manufactured here already, not that the life expectancy will be much higher.

Increased prices doesn't mean increased quality.

And increased prices of foreign products doesn't put any preassure on locally manufactured products to increase in quality - quite the opposite!

[xbusman]

Imports are ballooning, they have gone up about 30% in the last three months. With the stregthening baht, the price of foriegn goods has dropped almost 20%, making quality imports cheaper than local manufacturing even including the freight costs and duties. Chinese goods have become so cheap that massive amounts are now flooding the Thai market in things like cookware, clothing, luggage, and on and on and on. Yes, the quality of Chinese goods is often very poor but a Thai shopper faces with a 380 baht SeaGull stainless steel cook pot versus a 110 Baht chinese knock off does not get very worked up about the differance in quality.

The commerce dept is trying to plug the holes in the dam one by one. As they see the alarming numbers they stick another finger in the hole. We all know the problem with that approach though.....

[chownah]

With the baht being so strong import goods are very cheap and this, along with a reduction in exports due to the high prices of exports caused by the same strong baht could wreak havoc for the Thai economy by reducing manufacturing.....seems like reducing the amount of imports to stimulate local production would be a natural thing to want to do....but I have no idea whether it will benefit the Thai economy or not...the best laid plans of military men often go astray.

Chownah

[ChiangMaiAmerican]

Does Thailand really want to start a trade war? Sounds like they are making their best efforts to provoke retaliation from Thailand's trading partners and the WTO. In the US, the mood in Congress changed after last November's election. A number of congressmen and Senators were elected on promises of requiring reciprocity from trading partners. The new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has promised aggressive enforcement of trade agreements. Newly elected Senator Sherrod Brown was elected largely because of his vocal opposition to trade agreements that place a many US businesses at a disadvantage. Has anyone in Thailand taken notice? It doesn't appear so. Does Thailand really think the rest of the world cannot live without Thai imports? Start restricting imports from tradong partners and Thailand is likely to find out other countries have numerous alternate sources for the same goods produced in Thailand. Once the buyers leave the Thai market, and they will if their countries enact retaliatory measures, getting them back won't be easy.

[ChiangMaiAmerican]

Some of Thailand's previous history arguing that import restrictions were justified. This was under GAAT before the WTO came into existence. Didn't work then and though the products will be different it is likely to meet the same result this time. I wonder what excuse they will try this time?

Thailand — Restrictions on the Importation of and Internal Taxes on Cigarettes

Adopted on 7 November 1990. Adopted, pre-WTO, GATT panel reports can be downloaded here.

Under the 1966 Tobacco Act, Thailand prohibited the importation of cigarettes and other tobacco preparations, but authorized the sale of domestic cigarettes; moreover, cigarettes were subject to an excise tax, a business tax and a municipal tax.

The US complained that the import restrictions were inconsistent with GATT Article XI:1, and considered that they were justified neither by Article XI:2©, nor by Article XX( . It also argued that the internal taxes were inconsistent with GATT Article III:2.

Thailand argued, inter alia, that the import restrictions were justified under Article XX( because the government had adopted measures that could only be effective if cigarette imports were prohibited and because chemicals and other additives contained in US cigarettes might make them more harmful than Thai cigarettes.

The Panel found that the import restrictions were inconsistent with Article XI:1 and not justified under Article X1:2©. It further concluded that the import restrictions were not "necessary" within the meaning of Article XX( . The internal taxes were found to be consistent with Article III:2.

http://www.wto.org/English/tratop_e/envir_e/edis03_e.htm

Edited January 29, 2007 by ChiangMaiAmerican

[LaoPo]

The pattern is getting clear, day after day : nationalism/isolationism.

You're missing protectionism.

Protectionism never works in the end, never.

LaoPo