Industry Ministry vows crackdown on substandard goods sold online

The Industry Ministry would protect local industries by stepping up its crackdown on substandard goods from abroad that are available for ordering via online platforms, the secretary to the industry minister said.

Pongpol Yodmuangcharoen, secretary to Industry Minister Akanat Promphan, held a meeting of senior officials of the ministry on behalf of  Akanat on Sunday to discuss measures on how to protect local manufacturers from unfair competition of cheap but substandard quality goods from abroad.

Those attending the meeting included Ekniti Romyanon, inspector-general of the ministry, Nirada Wisutchartthada, the ministry’s assistant permanent secretary, and chiefs of legal divisions of several departments of the ministry.

A representative of Wisible Co Ltd was also invited to attend the meeting. Wisible specialises in developing and providing CRM (customer relationship management) software solutions for B2B businesses.

After the meeting, Pongpol said the industry minister had expressed concern about the impact on local industries from the flooding of cheap but substandard goods from abroad, so the minister had ordered the Industrial Standards Institute to check the quality of all imported goods to ensure they meet ISO standards.

Pongpol said the meeting assigned the institute to monitor the import of substandard goods from abroad.

During the meeting, Saroj Athiwitthawas, an executive of Wisible, revealed that ISO uses Big Data and artificial intelligence to monitor online platforms for goods whose quality may be substandard, Pongpol said.