The Commerce Ministry should consider making the regulations covering retail-business operations clearer when the first-ever retail business law is redrafted, otherwise the act cannot ensure transparency in the retail business, trade experts and retailers say.

They have called on the government to focus more on service hours and the mandatory distances between retail giants and small retail operators.

The Commerce Ministry is revising its draft of the act after the Cabinet rejected the first draft last month. The ministry will today organise a second focus-group meeting in an attempt to conclude details of the draft.

Virot Chunprathipthong, president of Thai-owned modern retailer Tang Hua Seng Group, said the revised draft of the act should make details clearer because the current draft had succeeded in confusing everyone.

Although the ministry wants to accelerate implementation, the current draft act will not help small retailers survive or control large retailers, he said.

Under the ministry's draft act, the central committee and provincial committees have the power to set service hours and locations for each retailer. This condition would lead to corruption as the government has given too much authority to the committees, he said. To be fair to both small and large retailers, Virot suggested the government set precise operating hours and locations for retail giants.

He said the act should include plans that strengthened traditional retailers' management and competitiveness against big retailers.

Kiat Sitthee-amorn, chairman of the Democrat Party's audit committee, said the government was right to accelerate implementation of the act but had to make sure it could solve the current problems between small and giant retailers.

Details of service hours, zoning, expansion conditions and regulations to eliminate unfair trade practices between giant retailers and their suppliers should be included in the act, Kiat added. Kiat, who is also a former chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce in Thailand, commented that the current draft by the ministry did not include the regulations necessary to solve problems among large and small retailers.

Meanwhile, Skol Harnsuthi-varin, secretary to the Commerce Minister, said the revised version of the draft law should be resubmitted for the Cabinet's approval early next month.

He said the details in the act, such as restrictions on operating times, would be considered by the act's drafting committee as different areas put different demands on retail businesses.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation