The Director-General of the Department of Foreign Trade stated that he has opened up to receive opinions from all private sectors after encountering problems with many imported products entering Thailand that are of substandard quality and also have low prices. He emphasized that if he has clear information, he will be able to determine solutions and take care of the right points.
Mr. Ronnarong Poolpipat, Director-General of the Department of Foreign Trade, revealed that after Mr. Phumtham Vejjayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, and Mr. Wutthikrai Leewiraphan, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, expressed their concerns about the problem of substandard imported products and low prices, last week, the department organized a meeting with 30 private sector business groups under the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trade of Thailand, the Federation of Thai Industries, and various associations, such as plastics, clothing, gifts, stationery and office supplies, air conditio
ners, steel, machinery and metallurgy, ceramics, granite and marble, cosmetics, dietary supplements, furniture, etc., to listen to the situation of imported products from abroad and the situation of trade competition between Thai SME products and products from abroad, as well as to listen to suggestions and guidelines for resolving trade competition problems of domestic and foreign products in terms of quality and price.
Entrepreneurs presented information on problems and overall impacts affecting consumer goods, including the service and investment sectors, such as low-quality and cheap product standards, smuggling goods across the border, false product tariff declarations, and the establishment of service and manufacturing businesses that do not benefit Thailand and Thai consumers. They also provided recommendations for ‘increasing the strictness of quality and standard inspections of imported goods, using tax measures to protect domestic producers, strengthening Thai entrepreneurs in production and busine
ss potential so that Thai products and businesses can maintain their market share, and improving laws and agreements that are obstacles to Thai trade.’ Meanwhile, groups that need to import capital goods ‘should consider the impact if measures are applied to imported goods, as it is necessary to import product components.
However, the Department will compile all opinions for consideration and proposal at the policy level to implement integrated problem-solving measures for all agencies as a whole. As for trade remedies (AD/CVD/AC/Safeguard), the Department has explained to entrepreneurs about the steps, data collection system, investigation process, and impacts of the measures, which are implemented under the AD/CVD Act and the Safeguard Act. If entrepreneurs consider that they have been affected by unfairly priced imported goods or have had an influx of imported goods, they can submit a request for the measures, which must include sufficient and reliable supporting documents.
In addition, the department pl
ans to organize training to provide knowledge to Thai entrepreneurs about the law, methods of applying for and investigating trade remedy measures in particular. The Ministry of Commerce has always given importance to solving the problem of substandard and low-priced products from abroad. It has assigned its affiliated agencies to follow up and coordinate with other relevant government agencies. In order for the implementation to be in accordance with the policy, the implementation of measures to solve the problem of substandard and low-priced products must take into account fair and sustainable trade because Thai trade relies on trading partners. Measures must be consistent with international obligations and agreements. The actions of government agencies must be carried out in a concrete manner, in accordance with the law, and produce measurable results. It is in the process of preparing policy guidelines and recommendations, including the structure of the national working group to drive measures that have t
angible results, to be presented to the Prime Minister through Mr. Phumtham, as Deputy Prime Minister, within the next week.
Source: Thai News Agency