The Commerce Ministry has launched a crackdown on nominee-owned companies and the trade in substandard imports, said Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan today.
The government will take to all necessary action to deal with products, the origins of which are not specified, to protect local manufacturing and promote fair competition.
Deputy Commerce Minister Napintorn Srisunpang, meanwhile, said the problems of nominee-owned companies and substandard imports have been left unchecked for more than a decade, partly due to existing laws being obsolete.
According to the Commerce Ministry, it is estimated that there are more than 46,000 foreign-controlled companies, which are suspected of using Thai nominees as shareholders, operating in areas restricted by the Foreign Business Act to Thais, many of which are dealing on and offline in substandard products.
During the past nine months, more than 39,000 legal cases, related to substandard products or companies using Thai nominee shareholders, have been reported, with damage estimated at about two billion baht, claimed the ministry, and that 10,000 items have been removed from online trading platforms.
According to the committee tasked with dealing with such entities, led by Commerce Minister Pichai, 857 nominee-owned companies have also been found during the same period and charged with causing damage to the state, estimated at about 15 billion baht.
Most nominee-owned companies in Thailand operate in tourism, real estate, e-commerce, logistics and warehousing, hotels and resorts, farming and construction.
Napintorn said that the Commerce Ministry will propose amendments to the Foreign Business Act, to increase penalties against nominee-owned companies, including the confiscation of assets.
