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April 10, 2025

Thailand Updates Draft Notification on Additional Obligations for Online Marketplaces

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After making revisions to the initial draft notification released in November 2024, Thailand’s Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) has released an updated draft Notification on Additional Obligations for Digital Platform Service Operators of Online Marketplaces for Goods with Specific Characteristics under Section 18(2) of the Royal Decree on the Operation of Digital Platform Service Businesses Subject to Prior Notification B.E. 2565 (2022) B.E. … . A focus group session was also held to gather feedback from business operators.

Below is a summary of key provisions in the new draft.

Unchanged Items

Some key concerns that remain unchanged from the previous version of the draft notification include the following:

  • Offshore business operators running online marketplaces that act as intermediaries for the sale or exchange of goods and provide facility services for the sale of goods (referred to as “specific marketplace operators” in the draft) are required to establish a local entity in Thailand. However, the criteria for determining which operators are specific marketplace operators are still under discussion due to feedback from business operators.
  • Specific marketplace operators must submit a compliance report to the ETDA along with their annual report each year.
  • Specific marketplace operators must verify that “business users” (e.g., merchants) provide complete details about goods in accordance with product standardization requirements.

Removed Obligations

The updated draft notification has removed specific marketplace operators’ obligations to:

  • Conduct Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2) verification of business users before onboarding them on their platforms.
  • Submit a registry of business users’ information to the ETDA.
  • Retain business users’ information for a specified retention period.
  • Implement measures to filter reviews of products subject to specific standards.

Revisions

Key revisions made to the draft notification include the following:

  • The effective date has been extended to 120 days after the notification’s publication in the Government Gazette, up from 60 days in the previous draft.
  • The term “products subject to specific standards” now includes three additional categories of regulated goods: medical devices, herbal products, and hazardous substances. This expansion aims to cover all products regulated by Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as the intention of this notification is to encompass products under the supervision of both the Thai Industrial Standards Institute and the FDA.
  • The information that must be reported to the ETDA now includes:
    • The number and proportion of goods on the platform that are subject to product standards.
    • The number and proportion of business users selling or advertising such goods.
    • Data on removed goods and business users, including the number of removals.
    • Complaint handling statistics, including the number and proportion of complaints related to products subject to specific standards.
  • Instead of conducting IAL2 verification of business users, specific marketplace operators must collect certain information from business users, such as name, address, phone number, email address, a copy of their identification document (or electronic version), and bank account details.
  • Specific marketplace operators must have business users conduct self-certification for compliance with laws regarding products subject to specific standards.
  • The maximum complaint response period for specific marketplace operators is changed from 24 hours to 3 days.

Timeline

The ETDA is gathering feedback from relevant operators and will present the draft notification to the agency’s Electronic Transactions Committee in April 2025. Once the draft is finalized and approved by the committee, it will be published and implemented shortly after.

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