Customers and investors are increasingly interested in the ESG initiatives of companies before making a purchase or investment decision. This is the case in Thailand, where we are seeing more companies announce sustainability initiatives, causing government authorities to supportively respond to these efforts. In this two-part article, we will first focus on the sustainability trends in Thailand and the role of Thailand’s Board of Investment with examples of current incentive schemes and privileges that facilitate sustainability-related activities.

The Trade Competition Commission of Thailand has published a new guideline on offenses relating to unfair trade practices under section 57 of the Trade Competition Act 2017. The New Guideline underwent a public hearing in 2021 and has become effective on 19 February 2022. It replaces the first guideline on unfair trade practices which was issued back in 2018.

The Trade Competition Commission of Thailand published a draft amendment of the Notification of the Trade Competition Commission re: Guideline on Fair Trade Practices relating to Credit Terms with SMEs Offering Goods or Services (or commonly referred to as the SME Credit Term Guideline). This is the first amendment after the guideline became effective in December 2021 and is now open for public hearing.

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) considerations are growing in importance for companies and businesses globally, so much so that we have now arrived at the point where ESG has become one of the key priorities in boardrooms everywhere. Regulations are emerging, the pressure from stakeholders is increasing, and consumers are becoming more conscious of ESG issues, which is influencing their purchasing decisions as noted recently by the Head of Marketing at a Thai consumer goods company, “Consumers increasingly want to purchase products from organizations that are good at achieving their ESG goals