The Lesson Learned from Trade Competition Act B.E. 2542 (1999)

Abstract

There was an attempt for more than a decade to amend the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2542 (1999)that had been an important mechanism to promote the fairness in the economic system, and to preventlarge companies from exploiting small companies; consumers; and suppliers in Thailand.Also the legal amendment in 2017 was a new dimension for the legal development on the consumer protection; and bringing an opportunity as well as liberty of consumers' product buying without “Monopoly” from one entrepreneur. In the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2560 (2017)[1], “Problems” appearing in the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2542 (1999) had been solved, especially the problem of law enforcement that was considered as, “No Law Enforcement” because no business operator had ever been punished according to this Act for the past decade. This mentioned issue could bringsome queries in Thailand about the “Monopoly” thatthere was no punishment because of the entrepreneurs’ behavior or the process of law enforcement; and the “Loophole” of the legal provisions that the law could not be enforced practically. Therefore, this article needed to explore the “Cause”, that the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2542 (1999) could not be enforced in Thailand during the past 18 years; and the expectation on the amended act as the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2560 (2017) for promoting the fair tradein the country increasingly.

[1]Trade Competition Act B.E. 2560 (2017), published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette on July 7, 2017