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Which Digital Platform Business Operators are subject to the Digital Platform Law?"

Writer's picture: Lexpertise Law FirmLexpertise Law Firm

Updated: Nov 20, 2023

Nandana Indananda

​The Royal Decree on Digital Platform Service Business Operation is a new law in Thailand that requires digital platform service providers to notify the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) before conducting business. Failure to comply with this law may result in legal liability and impact business operations. The law applies to various types of digital platform service providers, including online goods or service marketplaces, social media platforms, advertising services, audio-visual and music sharing services, search engines, news aggregators, maps, web browsers, virtual assistants, operating systems, hosting services, cloud services, internet services, and other services. All business operators who conduct online trading or have a website or application on the internet should verify that their services comply with the legal requirements and submit their business operation notification to ETDA in a timely manner.

The Royal Decree on Digital Platform Service Business Operation is a new law in Thailand that assigns duties to digital platform service providers who offer services to users in Thailand. These providers must notify the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) before conducting their business. Providers who offered services before August 20, 2023, are required to notify their business operations by November 17, 2023. Failure to comply with this law may result in legal liability and could impact business operations. This article analyzes the types of digital platform service providers that are subject to this law.

Types of Digital Platform Providers

​What types of business operator are subject to Digital Platform Law? It is necessary to start with the definition of "digital platform service," which is defined by this law as "the provision of electronic intermediary services that manage data to facilitate connectivity between business operators, consumers, or service users for electronic transactions."

People familiar with the laws related to internet service providers in the European Union may understand that "digital platform" has the same meaning as "Online Intermediation Services" under the P2B Regulation. If that's the case, other types of internet service providers, such as Mere Conduit Services, Caching Services, Hosting Services, and Search Engines, are unlikely to be considered as "digital platforms" under this law because these services are not provided to facilitate electronic transactions between businesses or users directly.

However, the ETDA, which is the regulatory agency for this law, has issued several subordinate regulations that seem to interpret the meaning of "digital platform" quite broadly. Even websites that display links or positions of data, such as hyperlinks or banners, to link to other websites or digital platforms, are considered digital platforms under this law. Therefore, all ad-based websites, such as those with Google Adsense ads, are also considered digital platforms. In addition, the ETDA has also categorized digital platform services into 16 different types, which means that these platforms are likely to fall within the meaning of digital platforms that have a duty to notify business operations.

1) Online marketplace

1.1 Online marketplace for goods

1.2 Online marketplace for services

2) Sharing Economy

2.1 Ride sharing

2.2 Car sharing

2.3 Knowledge sharing

2.4 Labor sharing

2.5 Space sharing

2.6 Financial sharing

3) Online communication

3.1 General Online communication

3.2 Communication commerce (C-Commerce)

4) Social media

4.1 General Social media

4.2 Social commerce (S-Commerce)

5) Advertising service

6) Audio-visual and music sharing

7) Searching tools

7.1 Online search engines

7.2 Specialized search tools

8) News aggregators

9) Maps

10) Web browser

11) Virtual assistants

12) Operating system

13) Hosting services)

14) Cloud service

15) Internet service

16) Other services

From the scope of these digital platform service categories, electronic commerce service providers with websites or applications on the internet that provide services to users in Thailand have a duty to notify the ETDA office. These service providers only need to notify their business listing in abbreviated form, or they may need to notify and comply with the criteria established by the law, depending on other factors such as the average monthly number of service users, business income, and the nature of the business entity, whether it is an individual or a juristic person.

All business operators who conduct online trading or have a website or application on the internet should verify that their services comply with the legal requirements for notifying the ETDA office of their business operations. They should also determine whether their services fall into any of the 16 types of digital platform services and submit their business operation notification in a timely manner as required by law, to ensure smooth and legal business operations.

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