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July 3, 2019

Amnesty Made Available to Illegal Hotel Business Operators in Thailand

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On June 12, 2019, Order No. 6/2562 of Thailand’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) entered into force.

The order grants amnesty to business operators running premises that are not compliant with certain provisions of the Hotel Act B.E. 2547 (2004), City Planning Act B.E. 2518 (1975), or the Building Control Act B.E. 2522 (1979), including hotels providing accommodation services only and hotels providing both accommodation and dining services as stipulated under the Ministerial Regulations Describing other Types of Buildings Used in a Hotel Business Operation B.E. 2559 (2016).

Under this order, non-compliant hotel business operations are exempt from enforcement of certain city planning regulations and local building control regulations until August 18, 2019 provided that, within 90 days of the order’s effective date, they:

  • report the hotel’s non-compliance with relevant laws to local authorities;
  • rectify or modify the hotel’s fire safety system to comply with Ministerial Regulation No. 47 B.E. 2540 (1997), issued under the Building Control Act B.E. 2522 (1979); and
  • install a number of fire extinguishers calculated based on the size of the property.

The local authority will inspect the building within 30 days of the hotel operator’s report. If any non-compliance is found, the operator will need to rectify them within 30 days.

The amnesty will cover the following violations that began before the effective date of the order, until the date of the local authority’s inspection report:

  1. Operating a hotel business without a hotel license (Section 15 of the Hotel Act);
  2. Using land in violation of city planning regulations (Section 27 of the City Planning Act);
  3. Modifying a building without a building modification permit (Section 21 of the Building Control Act);
  4. Using a building under its control without obtaining a building modification certificate (Section 32 of the Building Control Act);
  5. Unauthorized change of use (Section 33 of the Building Control Act).

Once the building is in compliance with the order, the local authority will notify the Registrar in writing and the business operator will be able to continue their hotel business without penalty for the offences described above.

If an operator of a hotel or accommodation business with no more than four rooms, and with capacity for no more than 20 guests, cannot comply with the law due to land usage restrictions (other than in the laws cited in items 1–5 above), the relevant authorities will present the situation to the National Land Policy Commission, which will recommend solutions to the Cabinet.

Operators of non-compliant hotels or accommodation services should take advantage of this development and immediately proceed with the above steps and rectifications to avoid any criminal liabilities. For more details, please contact Chaiwat Keratisuthisathorn at [email protected] or +66 2056 5507.

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