The Department of Internal Trade announced yesterday that it will arrange a meeting with the Thai Restaurant Association to talk about the future of restaurant service charges.
The issue is: do customers have to pay the charges if they haven’t been clearly stated on the menus?
One official has said no. The department is now moving to mandate that all restaurants must display any and all service charges on their menus, so that customers know what they are expected to pay and can make a decision about whether they want to eat there based on that.
Somsak Kiattichailak, the director-general of the Department of Internal Trade, said that the meeting will attempt to establish that restaurants must put up clear signs that indicate the presence and amount of any service charge that clients will be expected to pay, reported Thai PBS.
This move is designed to protect consumers and ensure fairness. If restaurants fail to comply with this order, customers will be legally able to refuse the service charges, he said.
Reader Interactions