No, they are not. Strictly speaking, the concept of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) has not yet been expressly stated under competition law in Thailand.

However, due to the broad definition of ESG, generally, it can be said that an element of ESG (i.e., Social – S) is deployed under the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2560 (2017), e.g. the requirement that a business operator will not act in concert with other business operators competing in the same market in carrying out any actions which are equivalent to monopoly, reduction of competition or restriction of competition, otherwise this may draw an interference by the competition authority.

Even though the concept of ESG has been gaining momentum in Thailand over the past few years, however, due to the fact that the Thai competition regime primarily focuses on preventing monopoly and unfair trade practices by business operators, the concept of ESG is not expressly presented in Thai competition law, instead, we can see this kind of concept referred mostly in the capital market area (See further in the response to "Are there precedents that involved ESG/sustainability matters in your country? If so please provide a short description.")

Therefore, we anticipate that Thailand will continue to have no new specific regulations regarding ESG in the competition regimes in 2022.

No, the Office of Trade Competition Commission of Thailand ("OTCC"), the relevant Thai authority, has not issued any guidance regarding the role of ESG in mergers or other conduct.

No, Thailand has no guidance regarding collaborations or participating in industry working groups.

It may be possible to seek a ruling from the OTCC for a particular case regarding an ESG matter. As mentioned in our response to "Are ESG measures/sustainability agreements included in your jurisdictional competition regime?", due to the broad concept of ESG, some elements may fall under the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2560 (2017).

Article 59 of the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2560 (2017) allows a business operator to submit a request for a ruling to the Trade Competition Commission for its consideration and to decide on all activities regulated under said Act in advance; except for merger control matters. The ruling will be binding upon the party that seeks the ruling; moreover, the OTCC may also prescribe conditions to such party.

One of the express ESG quantifications in Thailand is the Corporate Governance Report Project ("CGR") by the Thai Institute of Directors ("IOD"), a non-profit membership organization, established with support from Thailand's capital market core institutions, namely the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), the Stock Exchange of Thailand ("SET"), the Bank of Thailand ("BOT") and the Foundation for Capital Market Development Fund, as well as the World Bank.

Under the CGR project, a steering committee delegated by the IOD scrutinizes and evaluates listed companies through available public information (i.e. an annual report, annual registration statement, minutes of the shareholders' meetings, and other information via the SET, SEC and company’s websites).

The criteria of evaluation can be categorized into five categories as follows:

1. Rights of Shareholders;
2. Equitable Treatment of Shareholders;
3. Roles of Stakeholders;
4. Disclosure and Transparency; and
5. Board Responsibilities.

Via such evaluation, the steering committee will rate each listed company by using the IOD’s symbol, arranged in ascending order from 0 – 5, and this score will be published in the factsheet for each listed company on the SET website for investors to check.

It is noteworthy to mention that the CGR is not a mandatory requirement for listed companies; conversely, each listed company attends this evaluation on a voluntary basis based on its readiness. As a third-party evaluation, the IOD will evaluate listed companies based on the public information self-declared by each listed company and issue the CGR score to the public. Investors may rely upon such scores as decision-making information.

Currently, the IOD intends to update the criteria of the evaluation by adding more aspects regarding ESG due to the development of climate change, human rights and technology on a global scale.

For further information, please visit: (https://www.setsustainability.com/page/cgr-corporate-governance-report)

Even though the concept of ESG is not expressly specified under the competition law regime in Thailand, however, business operators in Thailand are still allowed to act under the ideology of ESG as long as such action does not violate/infringe the applicable laws. As abovementioned in the response to "Can parties seek specific guidance from authorities on proposed ESG initiatives?", a business operator may request a particular ruling from the Trade Competition Commission, thus ensuring that it is in compliance with the trade competition law before proceeding with any action.

Yes, Thailand has precedents on implementation/requirements regarding ESG; however, they mostly involve areas of capital markets, wherein the concept of corporate governance culture, corporate social responsibility ("CSR") and sustainable development ("SD") were introduced and developed. In Thailand, businesses will be more familiar with the language of CSR or sustainability than ESG. However, it is increasingly being recognized that ESG as a concept has gained prominence among the global business community. Publications by the regulators (SEC and SET) now often use the term ESG interchangeably with the terms CSR and SD. By way of illustration, please see the details of precedents below:

In 2015, the SET presented a concept of the Thailand Sustainability Investment ("THSI") list, which consists of Thai listed companies operating their businesses in accordance with the ESG concept. A company that wishes to be on the THSI list must first pass a sustainability evaluation with a score of at least 50% or be a member of Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and have qualifications as specified by the SET. Currently, according to the SET’s website, there are 145 companies on the THSI list.

In 2017, the SEC introduced the Investment Governance Code ("I Code") for promoting ESG awareness. The I Code was jointly developed by several stakeholders, including the Office of Insurance Commission ("OIC"), Government Pension Fund ("GPF"), Social Security Office ("SSO"), Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations ("FETCO"), directors and management of all asset management companies.

The I Code serves as a suggested code of investment conditions that can be adopted by the various institutional investors i.e., asset managers, asset owners and related service providers, on a voluntary basis. The I Code aims to encourage investors to give key consideration to ESG issues when making investments, in addition to considering more traditional matters, such as the revenue and risk factors associated with the target business. However, the I Code merely contains a list of suggested investment conditions that could be adopted by institutional investors on a voluntary basis.

Moreover, in 2022, listed companies are required to disclose ESG information to investors via Form 56-1 One-Report ("One Report"), which was developed based upon former reports, namely the Annual Registration Statement ("Form 56-1") and Annual Report ("Form 56-2").

No, there is no specific regulation regarding ESG class action.

For further clarification, even though a case regarding trade competition is allowed to request a class action under Thai law, however, as mentioned in "Are ESG measures/sustainability agreements included in your jurisdictional competition regime?", Thailand does not yet expressly state ESG as a concept under the current competition regime.