Thailand Live Wednesday 9 October 2024

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FOREIGN BUSINESS ACT
Agency targets direct marketing firms, souvenir sellers and education consultants
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Direct marketing companies, souvenir sellers and education consultants will be next to be inspected by the Business Development Department for possibly violating the Foreign Business Act by allowing foreigners to hold majority stakes.

The move is aimed at solving the problem of some Thais being lured into investing in or paying for something but not getting any service as promised.

Chainarong Chochai, deputy director-general of the department, said those businesses were targeted for close examination because many cases were found to have foreign ownership exceeding the legal limit.

Some companies were the subject of complaints about cheating or using unfair practices to dupe people into buying their service or investing money in them.

The first round will consist of 48 direct marketing companies, 80 souvenir firms and 102 education agencies.

The department will join hands with the Consumer Protection Board to focus on direct sales or direct marketing businesses to prevent cheating and protect consumers from unscrupulous or illegal enterprises.

Previous checks found 13 suspicious firms in the food and beverage, property and tourism industries. They have been turned over to the Department of Special Investigation.

Wichai Phochanakij, another deputy director-general, said the department has also looked into the online business and uncovered 67 firms that had not registered with the department to do e-commerce.

Those firms will be punished under the business law by a fine of Bt2,000 and a daily fine of Bt100. Under the consumer protection law, illegal traders will be subject to a maximum of one year in jail and/or Bt100,000 fine.

In July alone, 422 e-commerce firms and 457 websites were registered, while in the first seven months, 1,295 e-commerce firms and 1,356 websites were registered, bringing the total to 12,573 enterprises and 14,268 websites conducting an online business in Thailand.

New business registrations were down by 4 per cent year on year to 5,388 firms, due to the strict conditions to control new firms.

Pongpun Gearaviriyapun, director-general of the department, said the slight slowdown in new firms should not impact the economy, while the stringent conditions were needed to screen start-ups.

In the first seven months, 36,900 firms were launched in the country, while 8,442 were shut down.

He said Monday's bomb explosion in central Bangkok should not affect business registrations this year as it would only have a short-term impact, while investment was for the long term. The department expects 65,000 new firms to register this year.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Agency-targets-direct-marketing-firms-souvenir-sel-30266898.html


-- The Nation 2015-08-19

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

"Chainarong Chochai, deputy director-general of the department, said those businesses were targeted for close examination because many cases were found to have foreign ownership exceeding the legal limit."

They will soon be happy if any foreigners want to invest in Thailand. They still think all foreigners are gullible and are easy to lure into investing their money in a business they can only own 49% of.

[shirtless]

We should do the same to Thai nationals in our own countries . they sure know how to kill the golden goose.

[CiaranO]

I think the message the government has been sending out is foreign investment not wanted.