The augmentation of a groundbreaking law on the 21st of August this year has stipulated an interesting trajectory for businesses rendering services via digital platforms. According to this cutting-edge legislation, such establishments are compelled to furnish relevant information to the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA). This remarkable initiative has been introduced in order to further streamline digital operations and reinforce statutory requirements in the landscape of online services.
Mr. Chaichana Mitrpant, the dynamic executive director of the ETDA, elucidated that the law apportions the responsibility to digital platform services to disclose their operations to the distinguished agency. Mr. Mitrpant also highlighted that the ETDA has played a significant role in offering consultation and valuable direction to these businesses. They have even taken the groundbreaking initiative of launching a supremely comprehensive digital platform assessment tool for effortless online self-assessments.
Following the inauguration of the notification system on the memorable day of 21st of August, there was a substantial inflow of notifications sent to ETDA. The recorded count was an impressive 109 digital platform services by the 10th of October.
Interestingly, a deeper inspection of this data revealed that a majority of these notifications were transmitted by e-marketplaces, followed by a string of diverse services such as communication platforms, news aggregators, search tools, web browsers, cloud services, virtual assistants, and advertising services. The wide variety of industries demonstrates the omnipresence and effective implementation of ETDA’s mandate, says Mr. Chaichana.
In order to ensure complete compliance to the latest law, the ETDA is urging all businesses and services that fall under the scope of this legislation, particularly general digital platform services, to expedite their notification process well before the impending deadline marked on November 18.
The ETDA also offers transparency in its actions by publicly displaying the list of digital platform services that have complied with the notification process. This list is readily available on the agency’s official website as a demonstration of its commitment towards transparent operations. It’s also an additional gesture to boost user confidence in digital platform services, foster competitiveness, and exemplify efficient user protection through the effective utilization of services.
The ETDA anticipates a surge in the number of digital platform services appending to the notification regulation. The first designated group that is expected to finalize their notifications before November 18 constitutes the category of general digital platform services, both within Thailand and overseas.
The qualifying factors for these services are carefully designated. They need to fulfill specific criteria such as reporting an individual or corporate annual exceeding 1.8 million baht for individuals and 50 million baht for corporations, alongside having a user base exceeding 5,000 users in Thailand per month.
Keeping in tandem with the compliance wave, several eminent platforms like Robinhood, Bitkub, QueQ, and NDID hailing from Thailand have swiftly submitted their notifications. In contrast, international giants such as Google, Facebook, Shopee, Lazada, and Line are still expected to file their notifications to ETDA, as per the latest reports in circulation.
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