NEW EXCISE RULES MULLED

       The Excise Department plans to change the tax law in order to collect more excise duties from auto-makers, beverage producers and operators of nightclubs and discotheques.
       Chumpol Rimsakorn, director of the legal office at the Excise Department, said yesterday the agency's idea was to calculate tax based on the retail price instead of on the factory price, which is the current practice.
       Manufacturers such as auto-makers have taken advantage of a loophole in the excise law by declaring artificially low prices in order to avoid full tax payment, he told participants at a seminar on excise matters.
       He said the department wanted to review the calculation formula by collecting tax on a retail-price basis instead. Otherwise, it will tell manufacturers that the new tax formula will be in line with that for imported items.
       The department also claimed that producers of energy beverages had taken advantage of a legal loophole by mixing fruit juice into their products and paying less tax.
       Chumpol said the agency would require producers to increase the proportion of fruit juice to the international benchmark level if they wanted to pay less excise duty.
       Operators of nightclubs and discos, meanwhile, may in future have to pay full taxes as the department will revise regulations related to this type of business.
       It will put in place a new definition of nightclub and disco businesses in order to solve the problem of operators declaring themselves as restaurants to avoid tax, Chumpol said.
       Tax officials will no longer have to rely on their personal judgement as to who is subject to excise payment when clear rules are put in place, he said.
       Chumpol added that the department expected to propose the legal changes to the Cabinet in October, with possible implementation by the end of the year.

SORRY, NO COCAINE IN OUR RED BULL COLA

       The Food and Drug Administration yesterday urged consumers to stay calm, saying that the Red Bull Cola that reportedly showed traces of cocaine was not the same as the version sold in Thailand.
       "The Red Bull Cola formula as appeared in the news in Germany was developed by Red Bull GmbH in Austria and manufactured in Switzerland.
       "Meanwhile, the Red Bull Energy Drink marketed in Taiwan was manufactured and exported by Red Bull GmbH in Austria," FDA secretary-general Pipat Yingseri said.
       The cola product sold locally is manufactured by Kratingdaeng Cola Co Ltd.
       The FDA has collected all samples of cola drinks available in the domestic market for lab tests, he said. The results should be known next week.
       If cocaine is found in any drink, the manufacturer will be liable to imprisonment of up to 20 years and a fine of Bt2 million-Bt5 million, he said.
       Red Bull Simply Cola was pulled from shelves in parts of Germany last week due to a study that showed it contained minute traces of cocaine, at 0.4 micrograms per litre.
       Taiwan confiscated up to 18,000 cases of Red Bull products, while in Hong Kong, Red Bull drinks have been pulled from the shelves while authorities test them.
       Yesterday, Red Bull also issued a statement, even though Red Bull Simply Cola is not available in Taiwan, saying that Red Bull Energy Drink, unlike sister beverage Red Bull Simply Cola, is not flavoured from "decocainised" coca leaves.
       "There were some concerns in Germany about the legal qualification of decocainised coca leaf extract that is issued in the production of an entirely different product - one that is not even available in Taiwan or any other Asian market - Red Bull Simply Cola and not [Red Bull] Energy Drink," the statement said.
       "It would have been absolutely impossible for the Taiwanese authorities to have found traces of cocaine in Red Bull Energy Drink. Red Bull Energy Drink does not even contain decocainised coca leaf extract."