May 31, 2017
Thailand implemented its main competition law, the Trade Competition Act (TCA) B.E. 2542 in 1999, and was the first country to do so in the ASEAN region. The 1999 TCA focused primarily on prevention of unfair trade practices, and restricted the formation of cartels and the conducting of monopolistic trade activities. However, over the course of the past 18 years, no prosecution has ever been brought against any business operator who breached the TCA, and therefore, enforcement of the TCA is renowned for being lacking, ineffective, and impractical.