The Trade Competition Commission (TCC, ), served by its operating body the Office of Trade Competition Commission (OTCC), is the

competition regulator A competition regulator is the institution that oversees the functioning of markets. It identifies and corrects practices causing market impediments and distortions through competition law (also known as antitrust law). In general it is a governm ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. First established in 1999, it was reconceived as an independent agency with regulatory powers in 2017. Prior to 2017, the relevant law, the Trade Competition Act, B.E. 2542 (1999), first established the body as a bureau under the

Ministry of Commerce A ministry of trade and industry, ministry of commerce, ministry of commerce and industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

's Department of Internal Trade, operating as a

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

overseen by an appointed Trade Competition Board (TCB) chaired ''

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, or council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by r ...

'' by the commerce minister. Over the following decade, this legal structure proved inefficient and inadequate—the TCB pursued only one case, against A.P. Honda in 2003, which was dropped after the statute of limitations expired as the case was drawn out for ten years—leading the TCB to be widely seen as a

paper tiger "Paper tiger" is a calque of the Chinese phrase ''zhǐlǎohǔ'' ( zh, s=纸老虎, t=紙老虎). The term refers to something or someone that claims or appears to be powerful or threatening but is actually ineffectual and unable to withstand ch ...

. A new law, the Trade Competition Act, B.E. 2560 (2017), repealed the old structure and re-established the OTCC as an independent regulatory agency with broader powers, including the authority to impose fines and penalties and to approve or reject proposed mergers that could lead to "a monopoly or undue market dominance against consumer interests". However, its authority does not extend to sectors with other regulatory laws in place such as telecommunications and energy. The first high-profile case to come before the new TCC was the sale of the

Tesco Lotus Lotus's (formerly known as Lotus Supercenter, Tesco Lotus Supercenter and Tesco Lotus) is a retail chain in Thailand founded and operated by Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, with operations in Malaysia following the acquisition of Tesco Malaysia i ...

hypermarket chain to CP Group in 2020, which was seen as a major test of the agency's will to take on Thailand's powerful business tycoons. The deal was approved with restrictions in a 4–3 vote, where the commission noted that "the deal may significantly lower competition but won't create major damage to the economy or consumers' benefits." The decision was sharply criticised by academics, members of the public, as well as dissenting commission members, including the chairman.

References

External links

*{{Official website, tcct.or.th Independent administrative organizations of Thailand Competition regulators Economy of Thailand 1999 establishments in Thailand Government agencies established in 1999 Regulatory authorities of Thailand