Since the Foreign Business Act was established in 1999, foreign businesses expanding in Thailand in a few very specialized industries have been required to have a Thai shareholder majority. Activities involving import and export are excluded from this requirement. Thanks to this exemption, well-developed infrastructure, and a clear regulatory framework, Thailand serves as a center for cross-border trade. Thailand's exports of goods reached US$212 billion in 2015, ranking 22nd in the world in terms of value. Thailand was the 25th highest importer in the world for the same year, with a total of 177 billion US dollars of imports.
In comparison to the average for Thailand's neighbors in East Asia and the Pacific, the World Bank reports that import and export times and prices are much lower in Thailand. The implementation of a customs system that is available on the web in recent years has considerably streamlined import/export operations. A number of processes, including the granting of permits and the payment of customs and taxes, have been totally dematerialized and are now done online.
The purpose of this article is to provide a summary of the steps involved in exchanging products from or to Thailand.