You are using an outdated browser and your browsing experience will not be optimal. Please update to the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Install Microsoft Edge

July 7, 2021

Thailand Introduces Online Ride-Hailing Services Regulations

Subscribe to Updates

Thailand’s Transport Ministry has issued new rules for ride-hailing services, aiming to strictly regulate the types of vehicle that can be registered, the number of registered vehicles per user, and the fees that are levied and collected. These rules are laid out in the Ministerial Regulation Re: Ride-Hailing Service Vehicle via an Electronic System B.E. 2564 (2021), which was published in the Royal Gazette on June 23, 2021.

Under the regulation, a personal vehicle transporting no more than seven passengers can be subsequently registered as a “ride-hailing service vehicle via an electronic system.” An individual is only allowed to register one private vehicle under the regulation. The vehicle registrations are classified as follows:

  • Small vehicles with a maximum engine power of 50–90 kilowatts;
  • Medium vehicles with a maximum engine power of 91–120 kilowatts; or
  • Large vehicles with a maximum engine power of more than 120 kilowatts.

In the case of an electric vehicle, it must be able to travel at a speed of at least 90 km/h.

Each ride-hailing vehicle must be covered by a service-providing communication system operated by an electronic service provider (e.g., a ride-hailing app) that has been endorsed and approved by the Department of Land Transport (DLT). This system must communicate the following details:

  • Car and driver information;
  • Driver’s identity system;
  • Pre-calculated fare;
  • Car tracking system;
  • Time and location validation system; and
  • Complaint and emergency system.

All data records must be retained for at least one month for examination purposes.

The regulation further prescribes that the vehicle must display a sign indicating that it is a ride-hailing service vehicle operating via an electronic system, and the vehicle must be the same color as appears in the personal vehicle registration certificate prior to its registration as a ride-hailing vehicle.

Registration under the regulation is valid for nine years. The ride-hailing vehicle registration plate’s size, specifications, and color are identical to the criteria for registering personal vehicles carrying no more than seven people, meaning that the same vehicle registration plate can be used for the ride-hailing vehicle. The condition of the ride-hailing vehicle must also be examined annually, as prescribed by ministerial regulations under the Vehicle Act B.E. 2522 (1979), and both the interior and exterior must be kept clean and tidy.

Service Fees

The regulation empowers the minister of transport to prescribe the fees for ride-hailing vehicles; the current fees are outlined in the table below.

All fees must be shown to the passenger before the provision of any service, and only this same amount can be charged and collected.

For more details about this regulation, or about any aspect of transportation and technology laws in Thailand, please contact Charuwan Charoonchitsathian at [email protected] or +66 2056 5657, or Panchanit Trakarnvanich at [email protected] or +66 2056 5531.

Related Professionals

Industries

Automotive

Technology

Practices

Corporate/M&A

Location

RELATED INSIGHTS​ 

July 9, 2025
On June 16, 2025, the National Assembly of Vietnam adopted Law No. 75/2025/QH15 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2012 Advertising Law, with an effective date of January 1, 2026. The amended Advertising Law was enacted to further refine the legal framework for advertising activities in the modern era. Online Advertising Under the amended Advertising Law, “online advertising” is defined to encompass not only advertising on electronic newspapers and electronic information pages (as provided under the 2012 Advertising Law) but also advertising on other electronic venues, including social media, online applications, and digital platforms with internet connection. The amended Advertising Law also imposes new requirements for online advertising, including: Identification signs: Advertisements must have clear identifiable signs in numbers, letters, symbols, images, or sounds to distinguish them from non-advertising content. Control features: For advertisements not in fixed areas, there must be easily recognizable features and icons that allow recipients to turn off the advertisement, notify the service provider of violating advertising content, and refuse to view inappropriate advertising content. Linked content: Content in the links embedded in advertisements must comply with the law. Advertising service providers and publishers must have measures to check and monitor the linked content. Advertising on social media: Organizations and enterprises providing social media services must offer users features to distinguish advertising content from other content. Signage for sponsored content: When advertising, users of social media services must use signs to differentiate advertising or sponsored content from other content they provide. In response to the above requirements for online advertising, the amended Advertising Law sets out obligations of advertisers, advertising service providers, advertising publishers, and advertising conveyors in relation to online advertising. Among these, it is notably the responsibility of individuals and organizations engaging in online advertising to prevent and remove violating
Read More
July 1, 2025
Now halfway through 2025, Thailand continues to advance in the realm of data privacy, with the ambitious goal of achieving zero data breaches. The Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC), an independent government body established by the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), is taking a more proactive approach, having published several rulings and orders to enhance data protection measures and clarify compliance expectations for businesses. Here is a look back at Thailand’s data privacy developments in the first half of the year. Strengthening Law Enforcement and New Guidance for Compliance Enforcement of existing data protection laws and regulations has taken a step forward this year. Some of the specific initiatives include: Increased enforcement by the PDPC. A key trend to watch from the first half of 2025 is the PDPC’s active enforcement of the PDPA as it intensifies oversight through compliance orders and public warnings against noncompliant organizations while ramping up efforts to prevent and halt the illegal trading of personal data by actively monitoring emerging societal issues. Call center scams and cyber fraud control. Thailand published an amendment to the Emergency Decree on Measures for the Prevention and Suppression of Technological Crimes to strengthen measures against technological crimes, particularly targeting call center scams and cyber fraud. Orders from the Expert Committee. Several orders issued by the Expert Committee under the PDPA were announced in the first half of this year. These include directives for data controllers to take corrective actions to comply with the PDPA, as well as initiatives to raise awareness of data privacy within organizations, reflecting the regulator’s focus on promoting organizational awareness and compliance. A guideline report summarizing the Expert Committee’s decisions and orders was also published to serve as a reference for compliance. Public issue monitoring. The PDPC has been taking a more proactive approach
Read More
June 27, 2025
Three American giants are actively protecting their intellectual property rights against generative AI, as two legal battles commence on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, Seattle-based media company Getty Images accuses UK-based Stability AI of multiple IP infringements. In the US, The Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios are teaming up against Midjourney, an AI startup, with their main ground being copyright infringement. Both cases are centered around questions legal minds have been posing since the introduction of generative AI: Is the output of generative AI an infringement? And who is ultimately responsible for the output, the platform or the user? Getty Images v. Stability AI Getty initially filed a claim in the High Court in 2023, which resulted in Stability applying for reverse summary judgment on the grounds that Getty had no real prospect of success, arguing that their operations took place outside the UK. However, the High Court judge hearing the case decided that the claims brought by Getty did have a real prospect of succeeding in court. Despite this, Stability saw a small victory when the court ruled that the representative action brought by Getty would not succeed due to the difficulties in identifying who qualified for the class. The proposed class was comprised of 50,000 rightsholders who alleged their rights were also infringed. Stability was successful in arguing that identifying these individuals would be challenging due to the unclear definition of the class. This current trial is centered around four main grounds: Copyright infringement. Getty accuses Stability of using content that Getty owns or has an exclusive license for when training their model, Stable Diffusion, resulting in the generated output containing substantial parts of that content. Getty is also alleging secondary copyright infringement, arguing that Stability is importing an article into the UK
Read More
June 26, 2025
Vietnam’s new Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) was passed by the National Assembly on June 26, 2025, and will enter into force on January 1, 2026. The PDPL introduces several new concepts, exemptions, and obligations in comparison with the current Decree No. 13/2023/ND-CP on personal data protection (PDPD), while other contents remain essentially the same. The relationship between the PDPD and the PDPL has not been clearly addressed; however, it is expected that the government will issue a new decree providing necessary guidance on certain requirements under the PDPL, and the PDPD will remain in effect until it is replaced by this new decree. Some key points of the new PDPL include the following: Personal data will be further defined by lists of basic personal data and sensitive personal data to be issued by the government. The consent-centric approach of the PDPD remains in place, along with additional exemptions for certain data processing activities. The requirements for the data processing impact assessment (DPIA) and transfer impact assessment (TIA) remain unchanged. However, there are new exemptions for the TIA, including for the processing and storing in the cloud of employee data, and when the data subject is the person sending its own data outside of Vietnam. Consent obtained under the PDPD remains valid under the PDPL. DPIAs and TIAs submitted under the PDPD are valid under the PDPL but may need to be updated to be in line with the requirements of the PDPL. Administrative fines depend on the type of violation. The fine for sale and purchase of personal data will be 10 times the revenue from the sale or VND 3 billion (about USD 115,000), whichever is higher. The fine for cross-border transfer violations is 5% of the violator’s revenue of the preceding year or VND 3 billion,
Read More