New safety regulations would change the way large buildings and high-rises attain liability insurance and pass fire and safety standards. The new law, an amendment to the Building Control Act, would force high-rise and other large building owners to purchase third-party liability insurance and hire a neutral outside auditor to perform fire and safety inspections. The inspections would be required every five years on buildings meeting any of the following qualifications: height greater than 23 meters; capacity greater than 500 persons; area greater than 10,000 square meters; hotels with more than 80 rooms; buildings involved in service, such as hospitals; condominiums with area greater than 2,000 square meters; factories with area greater than 5,000 square meters; billboards with height greater than 15 meters; and theaters listed in theater control regulations. The law, if passed, will become enforceable this year.

Despite recent efforts to attract more foreign IT experts Thai corporations are continuing to experience a shortage of qualified IT employees. In order to remedy this, the Board of Investment, in cooperation with the Information and Communications Ministry, is considering measures that would make it easier for corporations to procure foreign IT employees. The BoI hopes to establish guidelines for screening foreign IT experts so that positions in great demand can be filled the most expeditiously. The aim of the initiative is to stimulate the Thai IT sector which is seen as lagging behind those of other Asian nations. The BoI is also planning on luring foreign investors, especially Western multinational corporations, to expand their outsourcing operations in Thailand through incentive packages. The BoI recognizes that current incentive packages by Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore are much more attractive to foreign investors, and it hopes to increase Thailand's competitiveness with these and other nations.

The US International Trade Commission ruled in late February 2004 that Thai shrimp exporters may be subject to punitive tariffs for selling shrimp in the US at below market prices. The Commission ruled that low priced shrimp from Thailand and five other countries were hurting US shrimpers. Four Thai shrimp exporters were named, not the entire industry, so the Thai government will not be involved in the challenge to the ruling. On June 8 the commission's preliminary findings will be made public, outlining the exact punitive measures against Thai shrimp exporters. Any measures the US wishes to impose will be enforceable for shipments made after March 5, 2004.

Seven new criminal offenses may be included under the anti-money laundering law if the Council of State and the parliament approve of the draft amendment already supported by the cabinet. The new offenses are gambling, illegal trading in war weapons, Thailand intellectual property rights violations, human trafficking, exploitation of natural resources and the environment, illegal currency trading, and price collusion in bidding for state projects. These seven offenses would be in addition to the existing anti-laundering offenses that include, drugs, terrorism, prostitution, corruption, fraud, extortion, customs duty evasion, racketeering by organized crime, and malfeasance. The amendment, if ratified, would also expand the definition of the term "assets instrumental in money laundering" to include equipment, machinery, or any other device used to procure illegal revenue. Also, assets seized in criminal money laundering operations would be appraised and no less than half of the value of those assets would be directed into an anti-money laundering fund.

With the economy growing at a steady rate, authorities at the Bank of Thailand are promoting firm action against delinquent borrowers and expedited restructuring of debts by Thai financial institutions. Although the percentage of total loans considered bad loans had declined to 12.7%, officials at the Corporate Debt Restructuring Advisory Group are hoping to push this number down further. One major initiative is a plan for more strict provisioning requirements on banks to pressure them to take preventative action against restructured loans so they do not go into default again. Mediation services by the Bank of Thailand have been proposed to expedite restructuring of loans tied up in the courts. Also, a legal amendment may be created to allow Asset Management Corp, a state owned organization, to purchase debt ridden assets in an effort to facilitate restructuring their debt.. In the mean time, the central bank has encouraged local banks and financial institutions to determine, by July 2004, if their current restructured loans were eligible for re-classification from non-performing loan status.

Negotiations continue towards a comprehensive free trade agreement between Thailand and Australia. What would be Thailand's first comprehensive trade agreement and Australia's second with an Asian nation (after Singapore), the Thai-Australia FTA would eliminate all trade barriers between the two countries by 2020. If ratified, Australia would immediately eliminate 83.2 percent of its tariffs and Thailand would remove 49.4 percent of theirs. A joint study of the long-term results of such an agreement estimated that Thailand's GDP would be increased nearly 1 trillion dollars and Australia's boosted 260 million over the 20 year implementation period. A finalized version of the agreement is currently being negotiated as both sides have industries that may be injured by the liberalization of trade. However, it is expected that there will be safeguard mechanisms that each government may employ in the event that one of their domestic industries is genuinely threatened. In addition to a reduction of tariffs, the agreement outlines a framework for agreement on trade in services and investment, quarantine procedures, e-commerce, and food and agricultural standards.

Beginning in 2005, new Thai land taxes will apply to landowners who leave their land idle. Unused land will be taxed at twice the rate as land in use. Land that has been idle for more than five years will be subject to even greater tax rates. In particular, the new law has adjusted tax rates for land with or without structures as well as land housing condominiums. Specific rates will be set by local administrative organizations that are also responsible for collecting the taxes. The government claims that the new rates, capped at 0.1% of the land valuation price, will promote the use of land as well as boost revenues of the local agencies, an expected fourfold increase from the previous rates established in 1965.

Over 100 U.S. businesses, including General Electric, Time Warner, and Unocal, have banded together to represent American business interests in the upcoming US-Thailand Free Trade Agreement negotiations. The group, the US-Thailand Free Trade Agreement Business Coaltiion, was first publicized in Washington DC by US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Thai Commerce Minister Watana Munagsook. The American business coalition believes the agreement will be beneficial to both countries. In addition, a spokesman for the group argues, a successfully implemented agreement could be a model for FTA negotiations with other Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The Thai Commerce Minister acknowledged there were certain industries from both nations that wished to be left out of the agreement, but urged the US to resist pressure from those industries that wish to be excluded.

Following reports to the US Congress outlining the goals of a bilateral FTA, the Bush administration has sent word to Bangkok that it would like to begin discussions on June 21. While various interest groups within Thailand express their concerns about the ramifications of an FTA, Thai governmental officials state that the June meetings will simply discuss what subjects will be discussed in further meetings and what schedule they will follow. U.S. government Trade Representative Robert Zoellick argued before Congress that an FTA agreement would benefit US agricultural and services sectors as well as help enforcement of intellectual property rights in Thailand. In Thailand, where concerns of the actual benefits and costs are being expressed by a variety of groups, industries have legitimate concerns for the particulars of the agreement. Many claim that if the US-Thai FTA is modeled on the US-Singapore FTA it will in fact be injurious to many businesses. Legislators are also voicing their concerns early as ratification of agreements such as FTAs do not need to be endorsed by a legislative authority.

A report commissioned by American Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok has determined that intellectual property issues are central to upcoming FTA negotiations between Thailand and the US. The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), who is conducting the research, has determined that the high standards of intellectual property rights in the US, the political clout of US pharmaceutical and entertainment businesses, and US technological capabilities are issues Thailand should give particular attention to. The group believes that while the model for the FTA is expected to be the US-Singapore FTA, as a developing country Thailand should make special considerations to prevent potential monopolies, allow for the production of generic pharmaceuticals for Thailand's poor, and not inhibit inventiveness through excessively long copyright lengths. Ultimately the research concludes that Thailand should postpone the enforcement of the intellectual property aspect of a Free Trade Agreement for up to a decade, so that Thailand could ease into the requirements that would be necessary. Furthermore, as a developing country, Thailand is recommended to reject the 1991 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) as Thailand's standards of plant novelty are not yet achievable. In addition to intellectual property, TDRI cites investment and access to the services sector as the other top priorities.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is drafting a bill that would protect sites where fossils are discovered. As there are currently no laws protecting fossil discoveries or the areas in which they are found, Thai paleontologists have recommended that a law should be created to protect the fossils and facilitate their study. Many fossils, including those from dinosaurs, have been discovered in the Kingdom, but the discovery of a 7-9 million year old fossilized jawbone, determined to be from a primate similar to man, has pushed the issue to the forefront. The fossil was discovered in a sand mining area of Nakhon Ratchasima, prompting scientists to realize the need for laws to protect potentially important discovery sites.

The 1975 Land Reform Act, which provided reform land to farmers, with the understanding that they not sell the land, is now under review. The Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) has been considering whether it should grant those landowners the right to sell their land if they wish. Academics and activists are lobbying against this amendment, claiming that it investors would snatch up the land. However, the ALRO has intimated that farmers could only sell land that had been occupied and used for farming for a period of 5 years, and that purchasers of the land must continue using the land for farming. The ALRO is also investigating whether reform land should be rented or sold to farmers, rather than given for free, and whether land reform zones should be free from industrial operations.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge has ruled that Unocal Corp. is not liable for claims that it established shell companies that allegedly were responsible for the slavery, rape, and murder of Burmese villagers. The Court ruled that Unocal acted in good faith when it established its subsidiaries to construct an oil pipeline in northeastern Burma. Specifically, the judge ruled on Unocal's intent to establish legitimate subsidiaries and whether those subsidiaries were sufficiently independent. The judge based her decision on evidence that established subsidiaries as common and legitimate organizations within the oil and gas industries, and the fact that it was not uncommon for parent companies to be involved in some of their subsidiaries' business activities. The court will now decide whether the plaintiffs may legally pursue a claim against the subsidiaries themselves. Unocal praised the court's decision, while lawyers for the villagers vowed to continue their fight against the subsidiaries.