Hotels and restaurants are not in foreign business licence exemption
A new regulation frees eight service businesses from Foreign Business Act licensing. Officials deny claims that it opens hotels, restaurants and tour firms to foreigners. The story Hotels and restaurants are not in foreign business licence exemption as seen on Thaiger News .
Hotels and restaurants are not exempt from needing a foreign business licence in Thailand, according to the Commerce Ministry. A new regulation announced on May 18th, 2023, frees eight service businesses from the licensing requirement under the Foreign Business Act of 1999. These businesses include hotels, tour operators, restaurants, souvenir shops, sports services, and language schools.
However, the Ministry has clarified that these seven businesses are not included in the regulation. Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director-general of the Department of Business Development, stated that these seven businesses are not covered by the regulation at all. Critics argue that this move undermines economic sovereignty, hurts Thai SMEs, and lacks safeguards against nominee companies.
The Ministry argues that the aim is to eliminate duplicate paperwork. The eight businesses covered by the regulation include telecom services, treasury centres, securities-backed lending, administrative, human resources, and IT services for affiliated companies, domestic debt guarantees, renting part of a company's premises for ATMs or vending machines, and petroleum drilling services.
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