Commerce liberalizing foreign bus act

A study by Thammasat University is expected to be completed next year.

Business Development Department directorgeneral Kanissorn Navanugraha said the move was part of the ministry's plan to make the FBA more open and encourage foreign investors.

However, businesses where the study finds Thais are not yet ready to face foreign competition will remain a local preserve.

Of 26 types of business, only one, domestic land, water and air transport, is in annex II.

The 25 in annex III are engineering, construction, brokerage, auction, internal trade in native products not legally prohibited, retail, wholesale, advertising, hotels, guided tours, food and beverage sales, plant cultivation and propagation, computers, warehousing and domestic transportation, group consultancy, pawnbroking, schools, entertainment, machine installiation, electricappliance maintenance, logistics, representative offices, regional representation, management consultancy, and originalequipment manufacturing."The new amendment should be friendlier to foreign investors while still ensuring the survival of local enterprises, as the department has carefully studied which types of business are ready for foreign com¬petition," Kanissorn said.

He said the ministry would help any it found uncompetitive with a view to opening them up in the future.

To boost foreign investor confidence, the department will include in the FBA amendment aspects of other countries' law seen as increasing understanding of foreigners.

The department will stringently investigate some 40,000 companies that have foreign shareholdings of from 4049 per cent for possible vio¬lations of the FBA.

The department will randomly investigate them to make sure that no foreign investors have taken advantage of any loophole in the act to hold more than 49 per cent in firms on the protected list.

Asked about an investigation of whether 12 companies had breached the act as alleged in complaints to the ministry since 2006 , Kanissorn said some cases had been passed to the police for withholding evidence.

Twelve firms under investigation are UCOM, BoleroTak Wu Holdings, Telenor, Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia, Asia Aviation (Thai Air Asia), Thai Sky Airline, Cen Car (Carrefour), EkChai Distribution System (TescoLotus), Siam City Cement, DHL Logistics (Thailand), eventorganiser Izumi Zenkosha (Thailand), and realestate agent Burapa Lumpini Land.Meanwhile the department reported that business registrations had increased 26.15 per cent last month with 4,351 new companies, despite political uncertainty. Only 1,038 companies shut down last month, a fall of 10.02 per cent compared with the same period last year.