Facing the Foreign Business Act
To legally engage in activities restricted under the FBA, an alien company must obtain a Foreign Business License (“FBL”) or a Foreign Business Certificate (“FBC”) from the DBD. This is often easier said than done, but there are some exceptions.
Serious and Real Reform of the Thai FBA is Overdue.
The Bangkok Post reported on 21 May 2018 that the foreign business community is (again) pressing for reform of the Foreign Business Operations Act (FBA). We are seeing that again now.
Reform is absolutely necessary, but the foreign business community needs to look carefully at reform proposals, because many past proposals, if they had been enacted, would have made the FBA more restrictive....
Compliance in the Time of Covid
Covid-19 has created a perfect storm for regulatory lapses and failures: an unprecedented combination of business and regulatory disruption in a condensed time of period. Compliance requirements and safeguards are ignored, and compliance investigations hindered, delayed, or canceled. But do not expect the Department of Justice or the Securities and the Exchange Commission(“SEC”) to relax...
Compliance Investigations in Thailand: Caste and Candor
There is one word that should start any real discussion about corruption in Thailand, and that word is Sakdina (ศักดินา). Sakdina is a historical system of social hierarchy that went so far as to assign a specific numerical rank to every person in Thailand depending on their status. Although officially abolished, it persists, in a less recognizable form, to this day. Tourists and first-time...
A Perfect Storm For Thailand’s Tourism Sector
Pfizer and BioNTech have announced the development of a vaccine that is over 90% successful in preventing Covid-19. This should open investment opportunities in Thailand, particularly in Thailand’s tourism sector.
Thailand’s tourism sector and much of its economy has been in a slump since the Thai government took stringent measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Thailand. Thailand’s...
TAT Sentence Upheld on Appeal
The Bangkok Post is reporting that the convictions of the former Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Ms. Juthamas Siriwan, and her daughter, Jittisopa Siriwan, have been held up on appeal to the Thai Supreme Court. This presumably brings an end to the long saga of the Bangkok Film festival corruption case.
Corruption & Defamation: The Recent TripAdvisor Controversy
The press reports about the American jailed for allegedly posting a defamatory review on TripAdvisor about the Seaview hotel in Koh Chang have cast a spotlight on Thailand’s strict defamation laws. Reports about the jailing of the American appeared on the BBC website, the New York Times and the Bangkok Post.
The Not So Simple Amity Treaty Exception to the Foreign Business Act
Thailand’s Foreign Business Act, B.E. 2542 (FBA), which repealed and replaced a decree issued by the Thai government in 1972 known as NEC 281 (often also referred as the “Alien Business Law”), provides that “alien companies” – defined solely in terms of foreign share ownership – are not permitted to engage in a wide range of business activities, absent issuance of a foreign business license...
International Anti-Corruption Laws
Even before Barrack Obama became the 44th President of the U.S, a sea change in the enforcement of international anticorruption laws had started. The extent of that sea change became evident in December 2008 when Siemens AG and three of its subsidiaries agreed to pay a record U.S. $1.6 billion in fines to U.S. and European authorities for violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)...
The Controversy Over Proposed Changes to the Foreign Business Act
Over the last several months the local and international press have carried articles about foreign chambers of commerce and embassies appealing to the Thai government to rethink the draft changes to the Foreign Business Act, B.E. 2542 (FBA), arguing these proposed changes to Thai law will hurt future and existing foreign investors and violate Thailand’s WTO obligations.