On July 3, 2024, the Committee on Contracts of Thailand’s Consumer Protection Board announced the Notification re: Stipulation of Cash-on-Delivery (COD) Logistics Services as a Controlled-Receipt Business under the Consumer Protection Act B.E. 2522 (1979).
The notification regulates businesses “providing goods transportation services that collect cash on delivery,” which refers to business operators responsible for transporting goods from sender (i.e., the merchant of the goods) to consumer (i.e., the purchaser of the goods) and upon delivery collects payment from the consumer either in cash or via bank transfer.
The obligations that the notification imposes on these business operators are described below.
Receipts
Business operators must prepare a receipt as evidence of payment according to the specified requirements and deliver it to the consumer immediately upon receiving payment for the goods.
The receipt must include text in Thai that is clearly visible and legible, with a font size of at least two millimeters and no more than 11 characters per inch. The text must contain essential information and conditions as specified in the notification, including:
The receipt also must not contain any statement prohibited by the notification. Examples include:
Hold Durations and Refunds
After a consumer has received the goods and paid the business operator for them, the business operator must hold the money for five days from the day of payment. If, after the five days, no refund request has been made by the consumer, the business operator can then transfer the funds to the sender.
However, if the consumer does claim a refund for specific reasons within the five-day holding period, and this claim is verified by the business operator upon inspection of the returned goods, the business operator must refund the full amount paid by the consumer within 15 days of being notified. The business operator must also return the goods to the sender.
Refund obligations under this notification only apply if:
If the business operator verifies that the returned goods are as claimed by the consumer (in the first case above), or it is proven that the consumer did not place the order (in the second case), the business operator is required to accept the return of the goods from the consumer, send them back to the sender, and refund the money to the consumer.
Goods Inspection Documentation
To support the consumer’s right to reject the goods or request a refund, the consumer’s inspection of the goods must be documented as follows, depending on the circumstances of the inspection:
For more information on Thailand’s COD notification, please contact Nopparat Lalitkomon at [email protected], Napassorn Lertussavavivat at [email protected], or Rujaporn Paritsantik at [email protected].