DIW director-general Pasu Loharjun said the department usually inspected about 10,000 factories annually to make sure they complied with environmental and other official standards.

But under the “Thailand Spring Up” programme signed with the NSTDA yesterday, that agency’s experts will accompany DIW officials in their routine factory inspections. They will help analyse factories and consult with them on improving their environmental, safety, and energy efficiency, as well as on how to optimise the value of their industrial wastes.

DIW will short-list about 500 of some 5,000 factories it will inspect during the second half of this year, and select at least 100 of them to join in the Thailand Spring Up scheme during the next two years.

The NSTDA will disburse funding from its Innovation |and Technology Assistance Programme to cover half the expenses but not exceeding Bt400,000 per factory. The returns to the industrial sector are expected to be 7.5 times the investments.

The project is part of the government’s policy for the DIW to change its role from an agency that governs, controls, monitors and inspects for mistakes, and issues licences to one that provides suggestions and advice to manufacturers.

That will cover production efficiency, cost reduction, energy saving, and environmentally friendly competitive operations, according to official documents released at the launch of the scheme.

NSTDA president Thaweesak Koanantakool said his agency would utilise its nationwide networks of experts to take part in DIW’s factory inspections to help manufacturers improve their efficiency and safety and environmental standards.

“It has become unavoidable that [manufacturers] have to use ‘springs’ to jump up [their competitiveness] through applying technologies that will help them reduce waste, improve energy efficiencies and environmental standards, and solve trade-protectionism problems,” he said.

“But in addition to these things, we hope to help foster innovation in the future.”

Phanit Laosirirat, adviser to the Ministry of Science and Technology, said it was preparing to take on the issue of life cycle assessment (LCA), which would affect producers who could not comply with the European Union’s standards, as they would be subject to higher tariffs when they shipped products to the EU.

According to Wikipedia, LCA is a method to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product’s life from cradle to grave, such as from raw-material extraction through to materials processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling.

Its 87.8 score on the so-called Index of Economic Freedom was just 0.8 point shy of the Chinese financial hub. Last year, the margin was 0.2 point.

Even though economic growth has slowed in Singapore, the country’s “openness to global trade and investment continues to provide a solid basis for economic dynamism”, said the report published by the conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank and the Wall Street Journal.

“A transparent regulatory environment, buttressed by well-secured property rights, provides commercial security for the innovative and resilient private sector.”

Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan, a former nominated member of Parliament, said Singapore’s score dropped primarily because of lower marks for regulatory efficiency and freedom from corruption.

“But it should be noted that the qualitative remarks on both counts are, however, positive,” he added.

“Our approach to regulatory efficiency is not entirely aligned to the index’ methodology and criteria of economic freedom. For instance, the report states: ‘There is no statutory minimum wage, but wage adjustments are guided by the National Wage Council. The government influences prices through state-linked enterprises and can impose price controls as it deems necessary.’

“Therein lies the challenge of improving our scores – how do we reconcile what works for us with the economic methodology and beliefs that underpin the index?” he asked.

Nonetheless, Tan said the index was still useful: “We don’t live by rankings but we can learn from these surveys to see how we can improve Singapore’s political economy.”

The United States rose to 11th place this year from 12th last year but its economic-freedom score dropped 0.8 point to 75.4.

“Following declines in seven of the past eight years, the United States this year has equalled its worst score ever in the Index of Economic Freedom,” the report said.

“Ratings for labour freedom, business freedom and fiscal freedom have flagged notably, and the regulatory burden is increasingly costly.”

China’s global ranking sank to 144th from 139th last year, as “deep-seated structural problems, including a continued over-reliance on public investment and exports for growth, a state-controlled financial sector and regulatory inefficiency have become more acute”, it said.

Rounding off the top five “freest economies” were New Zealand in third spot, followed by Australia and Switzerland, while Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea were at the bottom of the list.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has issued an ordinance on product labelling in Lao language, in order to expand the contents of the Law on Consumer Protection.

The ordinance aims to increase the understanding of local authorities in terms of their duties in administrating and following up product labelling in Lao language.

It also focuses on encouraging domestic manufacturers and importers to label products in Lao language prior to distribution as well as to increase consumers’ understanding about the benefits and quality of products before purchasing them.

This aims to help consumers avoid buying low quality products, expired products or deteriorating products and to prevent deleterious effects on the health and property of consumers and the environment.

The order requires labelling on products in Lao language with the following contents: type or category of product, trademark as registered by manufacturer and/or importer, address of the producer and/or importer for distribution, country of origin and price, quantity, weight, quality, mass, ingredients, directions for use, warnings, date of manufacture, and date of expiry.

For products that had already been manufactured or imported before the promulgation of this regulation, retailers are required to coordinate with suppliers to obtain Lao labels. Each provincial industry and commerce department should direct its provincial chamber of commerce and industry to bring this ordinance to announce to domestic importers and entrepreneurs for implementation, the Domestic Trade Department’s Director General, Bounthien Keosipha told Vientiane Times yesterday.

The department, on behalf of the main party of the ministry, is responsible to expand this ordinance and the planning to monitor this work towards high effectiveness, he said.

The department should inform its plans to the provincial industry and commerce authorities and domestic import entrepreneurs to follow, Bounthien said.

The department will also hold discussions with the relevant sector in relation to the design of the labeling, he added.

Different import products in Laos are still labeled in foreign languages as the country does not have measures to monitor imports while some products may low quality or expired. The issue is a risk for local people’s health within the country and those whose don’t understand foreign languages.

Speaking at a press conference, he affirmed that the infrastructure would be completed within 18 months and the system would be fully operational by 2018.

The press conference followed the first meeting of the national e-payment steering committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak.

Apisak said the system would enhance tax-collection efficiency and boost the country’s tax revenue, which in turn would also assist in budget allocation to the low-income group and reduce income equality.

When the system is completed, lower-income people will be able to use their ID cards to buy products priced from Bt20, he told reporters.

“This is an open opportunity for all Thais to join the e-payment system,” he added.

The system is aimed mainly at reducing ‘cash’ transactions via credit or debit card, which are generally considered costly and risky.

At present, each transaction via costs Bt0.25 for operators, but the minister said negotiations were under way to bring down the cost once the e-payment system was fully operational and the number of users increased.

Of the total Bt3.5-billion investment, the private sector will outlay Bt500 million to develop the system and expand the use of electronic data capture/chip terminals nationwide.

Government agencies will invest Bt3 billion in the national infrastructure.

While Bt2.5 billion of the government investment sum is geared for tax-related infrastructure, the remainder will be used to develop the database on individuals eligible for subsidies and welfare.

The steering committee also re-solved to set up five working groups, to ensure completion schedules are met.

The first group will work on the Any ID scheme, which is a collaboration between the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Thailand that allows anyone to transfer money by using their ID card, mobile number or e-mail address, Apisak said.

The second will focus on electronic data capture/chip terminals, aiming to expand the number of card-receiving machines from 400,000 currently to 2 million by 2018.

Both of these groups will be headed by the governor of the central bank.

The Revenue Department will take charge of the third group, which is responsible for the e-tax payment system. The Finance Ministry permanent secretary, meanwhile, will lead the other two groups, which will focus on the integrated e-payment system for government and state agencies, and the low-income-individuals database. These last two groups will also take charge of educating the public about the e-payment system, the minister said.

During his visit to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports yesterday, Prayut said he wanted to follow up on tourism plans and hear details of problems in the industry.

In a separate matter, he said he wanted Thailand to become an even bigger sporting force in the region.

He said the tourism sector needed to collaborate with other stakeholders and agencies to build a good relationship between them that drove tourism.

“The aim of tourism is sustainability. The government wants to see more community tourism and more money transferred to local people,” he said.

The PM also wants to see more development of human resources in the sector in order to compete with other countries.

However, he said some problems needed to be solved, such as the lack of trained staff.

“It [the sector] may need more people and funding to oversee tourist attractions,” he said.

Ittirit Kinglake, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, urged the government to improve safety at popular tourist areas, including implementing more security measures.

In recent weeks, some tourists have been killed or injured because of poor management at tourist areas.

Ittirit suggested the government increase the number of security guards or tourist assistants at all major destinations.

He also called on the government to crack down on illegal businesses and non-registered operators because they took business and money back to their own countries.

“Prime Minister, please come and look at the many problems hidden through the country,” Ittirit said.

Despite the sector’s many issues, Thailand is expected to continue to be a popular destination for international tourists – a fact illustrated by the inaugural MasterCard Asia Pacific Destinations Index, which found Bangkok to be the most popular Asia-Pacific destination last year.

The comment came after the National Legislative Assembly recently ratified the ACFTA amendments, after the leaders of Asean and China proposed to upgrade and modernise the pact late last year.

The latest version of the ACFTA will come into effect on May 1.

Apiradi said the adjustment of the pact focused on the rule of origins, which after implementation will enable more than 3,000 Thai goods to have better access to the Chinese market.

“Trade and investment should grow after the recent agreement by both sides to eliminate technical trade barriers and relax some customs procedures for increasing flexibility in promoting more trade growth,” she said.

Some of the Thai products that will benefit from the upgrading of the ACFTA are chemical products, leather goods, wood and wood products, weaving fabric, garments, steel and iron.

In the service sector, Asean and China have also adjusted the agreement to promote more service-industry growth between both sides. Service businesses that China will now allow include travel agencies and tour operators, and financial service business including securities, construction engineering services and integrated engineering services.

In the investment sector, Asean and China have also agreed to facilitate more investment growth by setting up a One-Stop Investment Centre to facilitate investors on both sides.

China is currently the largest trading partner of both Asean |and Thailand. Trade between China andAsean grew fivefold from US$59.6 billion (Bt1.83 trillion) |to about $300 billion from 2003, when theFTA kicked off, until last year.

“DASTA will soon seek Cabinet approval for the two areas: Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai province, and Cha-am and Hua Hin in Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces [respectively],” he said.

The organisation is convinced Chiang Saen could become a new hub for community-based tourism in the North, with the added benefit of its proximity across the Mekong River to southern China.

Meanwhile, the development of Hua Hin and Cha-am would help boost tourism on the Gulf coast of Thailand and raise the overall quality of the two areas as tourism destinations, Nalikatibhag said.

Since its establishment 12 years ago as a pubic organisation, DASTA has developed six places as community-based tourism destinations – Koh Chang, Pattaya, Sukhothai, Loei, Nan and Suphan Buri. The director-general added that DASTA planned to develop more areas, including Pai in Mae Hong Son province, Ayutthaya, Koh Samui in Surat Thani province, and Songkhla Lake.

“Our three-to-five-year plan is aimed at developing more communities as tourist destinations. But most important, the goal is to create jobs and increase income for local people,” he explained.

Last year, DASTA pushed sustainable development via a number of means around the Kingdom, including building 13 model communities, launching tourism guidelines and plans for five clusters, and developing a hotel and tourism database. The body also promoted cross-border tourism, particularly with Laos.

DASTA had at one time been forced to shut down operations and temporarily transfer itself to the Tourism and Sports Ministry, because of a lack of clarity over its role and duplication of work with other tourism authorities, but Nalikatibhag said the organisation now remained important as “a key conductor of sustainable and community-based development”.

“Our role does not duplicate that of any other tourism agency. Community tourism development needs a body such as this, and it [having such an agency] is one of the recommendations from the World Tourism Organisation,” he stressed.

He added that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan o-cha had stated that DASTA would remain in place until at least the general election next year.

However, if the next government wanted to transfer the organisation to the Tourism and Sports Ministry, DASTA should have no problem with such a decision and would continue its work as usual, Nalikatibhag said.