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Asia-Pacific Thailand

Progressive Liquor Bill rejected by Parliament, replaced by watered-down regulations

Prachatai | 3 November 2022

https://prachatai.com/english/node/10071

In general, the bill aimed to amend the Excise Tax so that homebrewers who do not intend to produce alcohol for sale no longer need a licence, and home alcohol production would no longer be a punishable offence.

The amendments would also allow small- and medium-scale breweries to enter the alcohol market, since anyone would be able to get a licence without having to meet minimum production capacity requirements. Community distilleries could also be established without being subject to capacity or employee number requirements in order to boost the production of traditional Thai liquor. 

The bill was introduced to eliminate the high barriers to market entry erected by the Excise Tax Act and 2017 Ministerial Regulations.

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