The Cabinet of Thailand has approved a draft ministerial regulation requiring crystalline silicon solar panels to comply with the Thai Industrial Standard (TIS), the country’s official national standards organisation.

The TIS enforces product quality and safety rules designed to prevent risks of electric shock, leakage, heat buildup and fire, according to a government press release.

The draft regulation, brought forward by Thailand’s Ministry of Industry, will also require manufacturers or importers of solar panels to obtain a license in accordance with the country’s Industrial Product Standards Act, which regulates national standardisation product quality and safety. It also stipulates distributors can only sell licensed products that meet the TIS, in a bid to prevent the production or import of substandard solar panels.

The regulation is set to come into effect the day following its publication in Thailand’s Royal Gazette.

Government ministers have stated the new standards will not add steps, costs, or delay to the import of solar panels.

The Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) has confirmed that if imported solar products meet International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards, the IEC test results can be submitted to the institute for registration under the TIS without requiring further product inspection or testing. The process takes no more than five days, TISI says.

TISI adds that it is preparing to issue 279 import licenses for solar panels that meet IEC standards this month.

The Ministry of Industry says it plans to gradually review relevant standards covering other solar energy system components, such as inverters, cables, and batteries, before presenting them to the Cabinet “in due course, in order to progressively upgrade the safety standards of solar systems.”

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