The 2017 edition of Doing Business In…, a Q&A-style guide published by Practical Law Company in collaboration with Lex Mundi, presents an overview of recent legal developments affecting doing business in 51 jurisdictions worldwide. The Thailand chapter of the guide was written by attorneys from Tilleke & Gibbins and presents an overview of Thailand’s legal system and key laws applicable to foreign companies doing business in the Kingdom. The chapter specifically covers the following main topics:

The first enactment of Thailand’s Interest Overcharging Law, which came into effect in 1932, prohibited any person from loaning money to another person and subsequently charging them interest at a rate that exceeded the rate prescribed by the law.Eighty-five years later, Thailand finally promulgated a new law focused on this topic called “The Act Prohibiting the Collection of Interest at an Excessive Rate B.E. 2560 (2017)” on January 15, 2017. The new law was made effective the following day, repealing the 1932 version.

With a population approaching 100 million, a burgeoning health care industry, increasing consumer affluence, and relatively weak competition from local pharmaceutical manufacturers, Vietnam would appear to be a very promising market for foreign pharmaceutical companies. A study of the pharmaceutical patent filing statistics in Vietnam reveals that foreign investors are indeed interested in the market—but perhaps are not protecting their innovations to the extent we might expect by filing patents. In this article, we examine the most recent available statistics on:

The Thai government’s attempts to revamp the 2007 Computer Crimes Act (CCA) and grant authorities more power to investigate and apprehend perpetrators of increasingly diverse cybercrimes has raised consternation among internet users who fear the new and more stringent law may impinge on human rights and place restrictions on online activity in the country.

The Ministry of Finance has issued two separate Notifications, published yesterday, with immediate effect, in the Government Gazette, that will relax the foreign shareholding and board limits for life and non-life insurance companies, for the purpose of promoting stability for insurance companies and the insurance industry.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Laos has, at long last, issued a decision on the Implementation of Geographical Indications under the Law on Intellectual Property No. 1119/MOST, dated October 25, 2016. The decision allows both local and foreign geographical indications (GIs) to be registered in Laos, and it outlines a number of matters concerning GIs that had not previously been included in the Law on Intellectual Property No. 01/MOST of 2011, such as registration processes and remedies.

Franchising experts from Tilleke & Gibbins’ corporate and commercial group have contributed the Vietnam chapter to International Franchising, Second Edition (Release 5, 2016), a guide to franchising law and practice in 34 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The chapter provides an overview of the following main subjects:

Sriwan Puapondh, of counsel, and Alan Adcock, partner, of Tilleke & Gibbins have coauthored the Thailand chapter of International Franchising, Second Edition (Release 5, 2016), a guide providing analysis of franchising law and practice in 34 countries worldwide. The chapter covers the following principal subjects: