On June 17, 2017, the Petroleum Act (No. 7) B.E. 2560 and the Petroleum Income Tax Act (No. 7) B.E. 2560 were both enacted, amending their predecessor laws. The amendments to both statutes entered into force on June 23, 2017. The amendments had been anticipated for some time, introducing production sharing agreements (PSAs) and service contracts as alternative host government instruments by which upstream oil and gas producers may invest in Thailand.

Bad faith trademark filings are not uncommon in Vietnam. In fact, bad faith is often included under the label of “dishonesty basis” as a ground for opposition or cancellation of a trademark application/registration. Generally speaking, bad faith is deemed to occur when an applicant intentionally registers a trademark to benefit from the goodwill and reputation associated with the trademark of another owner. Some notable issues of bad faith trademark filings in Vietnam are discussed below.

The Thai Customs Act was enacted in 1926, and has undergone several changes during the past nine decades of its existence. Despite the amendments, however, some provisions in the Act continued to pose problems for importers, exporters, and business operators.

On June 12, 2017, the Ministry of Commerce issued Notification 36/2017 to permit foreign-owned companies to trade and import fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, hospital equipment, and construction materials that are prescribed under the Myanmar Harmonized System (HS) commodity code. Previously, only local companies and local-foreign joint ventures were allowed to engage in such trade. The relaxation of restrictions is intended to obtain quality goods for the nation’s agricultural, healthcare, and infrastructure sectors.

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has passed Order 21/2560 to amend laws to facilitate doing business in Thailand, with the order entering into force on April 4, 2017.Among the amended laws is the Civil and Commercial Code, which now contains a new condition in Section 1201 that requires payment of dividends by a private limited company within one month from the date of resolution made by a shareholders’ meeting or board of directors’ meeting, as the case may be.

David Duncan, a consultant in Tilleke & Gibbins’ corporate and commercial group, recently contributed the Thailand chapter of Marketing Private Funds and Discretionary Account Services (Tenth Edition), published by Deacons, the Lex Mundi member firm for Hong Kong. The publication provides a Q&A-style guide on restrictions related to cross-border capital raising and marketing activities for asset managers in 17 jurisdictions, covering the following topics:

The Thai government has passed legislation that imposes more stringent rules and regulations to protect consumers from business operators engaging in direct sales and direct marketing. The amendments to the Direct Sales and Direct Marketing Act (No. 3), B.E. 2560 (2017) were published in the Government Gazette on May 17, 2017.

A new directive in Thailand will allow court pleadings and documents to be filed electronically. The Directive of the President of the Supreme Court on Submitting, Sending, and Receiving Pleadings and Documents via the Electronic Filing System came into effect on May 4, 2017.