When goods are imported into Thailand, action must be taken to ensure compliance with the law. For goods without import restrictions, importers may ask for them to be inspected and released from the Customs Port after fully paying duties and taxes. For goods with import restrictions, such as prohibited and restricted goods, importers must pay attention to all the laws related to such restrictions.Prohibited items are those prohibited by Customs law or other laws, for example, addictive substances, obscene/lewd objects or media, items which are forgeries/fakes of trademarked items or infringement of copyrights and intellectual property. Prohibited items are things which may not be lawfully brought into Thailand.

Restricted items are things which may be brought into Thailand but must be duly authorized or have already fully complied with the requirements of the law (both Customs and others). If such permission has not been first obtained, it will be deemed that the importer is evading restrictions imposed by laws governing customs which constitutes a criminal offence.

Under the Customs Act, B.E. 2469 (1926), there did not appear to be any definition of the term “Restrictable Items/Goods” or “Restricted Items/Goods”. However, after the Customs Act, B.E. 2560 (2017) came into force on November 13, 2017, definition of the term “Restricted Items/Goods” in Section 4 appears with the meaning “goods which are required by laws that their importation into, exportation out of, transshipment or transit through the Kingdom, shall be permitted or shall have fulfilled a requirement as prescribed in the law”.

By Prangtip Anantavipat and Prof. Piphob Veraphong