Trade Competition Commission (Thailand)

The Trade Competition Commission (TCC) is Thailand's competition regulator. It was originally established in 1999 as a bureau under the Ministry of Commerce, when it pursued only one case in a decade, and was restructured into an independent agency with expanded enforcement powers by the Trade Competition Act, B.E. 2560 (2017). The commission regulates competition and market practices, investigates anticompetitive behavior, imposes fines and penalties for violations, and approves or rejects proposed mergers that could create monopolies or undue market dominance against consumer interests, its jurisdiction excluding sectors with other dedicated regulatory oversight such as telecommunications and energy. A notable early test of its expanded powers was the 2020 approval, with restrictions, of the CP Group's acquisition of Tesco Lotus.