ABSTRACT
The Trade Association Act and the Chamber of Commerce Act empower the government to control the licensing and the registration of business associations throughout the kingdom. The most serious conflict is between the “upstream” Thai Textile Association, which is the mainstay of the yarn spinners, and the “downstream” Thai Weaving Association, a situation that prevents the Industry Ministry from assigning an official representative status to a single association. A number of mining associations, after more than ten years of persistent effort, succeeded in persuading the House of Representatives to pass a law chartering the Mining Industry Council as the official representative of all mining industries. Some associations themselves may be only facades for the representation of the particularistic interests of their presidents and a few associates who control members of these associations through clientelistic ties. As interest groups, business associations not only contest with the government, but also compete with one another and with other functional groups.
