Stay up to date with legal developments in Thailand.
What's New
Managing Greenwashing Risks: A Southeast Asian Lens
As governments, corporates and individuals double down on efforts on their sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda, there are emerging concerns of "greenwashing" and whether products and services labelled as "green" or "sustainable" are indeed so. What exactly is "greenwashing" and are there legal and regulatory frameworks in place to deal with this?
In this Guide, we aim to provide you with the state of play in the greenwashing legal landscape from a Southeast Asian perspective. Each Country Chapter provides a summary of the existing laws and regulations in each of the nine Southeast Asia jurisdictions that are available for enforcing against greenwashing, as well as some of their key regulators' approaches and initiatives to set clear and enforceable standards on green claims, green credentials, green products or green investments.
New Law to Combat Online and Phone Scams – The Emergency Decree on Measures for Prevention and Suppression of Technological Crimes B.E. 2566 (2023)
Due to the increasing number of telephone and online scams, the Thai government has issued a new law to combat such crimes, as well as related money-laundering activities, namely, the Emergency Decree on Measures for Prevention and Suppression of Technological Crimes B.E. 2566 (2023) ("Technological Crime Decree"). The Technological Crime Decree became effective on 17 March 2023.
Regional Competition Bites Q1 2023
This Rajah & Tann Regional Competition Bites provides an overview of the key competition updates in South-east Asia during the period of January to March 2023.
A key macro trend across the region is the introduction of new merger regimes or enhancing existing regimes so as to capture a wider range of mergers. Cambodia has now introduced merger filing thresholds and mergers will have to be filed with the regulator come September 2023. Vietnam and Thailand have been reviewing an increasing number of mergers, with Vietnam seeking to review even foreign-to-foreign mergers. Indonesia has bucked the trend a little, providing a breather to businesses by shifting from a single nexus to a double nexus requirement, while Philippines has raised its notification thresholds. What these developments spell for businesses is that Southeast Asia is a region that can no longer be ignored from a merger control review perspective. Even in Singapore, which has a voluntary regime, the regulator takes the position that if thresholds are crossed, a notification is necessary.
Separately, fighting inflation and cost of living issues continue to be a focus area. Regulators in Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines have opened cartel investigations products involving daily essentials such as onions and chicken eggs, while the Malaysian regulator is working closely to support the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living in tackling these issues.
Another key area where focus continues is in all things data, digital, and e-commerce. Several of the regulators have reiterated that this is an area of priority, and with some opening investigations in the area. Tech is also important for the regulators as they look to enhance their internal capabilities to handle more complex mergers and investigations.
On regulators, the Vietnam Competition Commission ("VCC") has finally been properly constituted and empowered to take enforcement action. VCC is now responsible for all competition matters, ranging from investigations to enforcement and merger control. We expect stronger competition law enforcement and quicker review of merger cases in Vietnam moving forward.
Developments in the region remain dynamic and the Rajah & Tann Asia Team is very much in the thick of many of the developments and on-going matters. Please reach out to us if you wish to further discuss these developments.