GEN 1.4  ENTRY, TRANSIT AND DEPARTURE OF CARGO

1.  Customs Requirement Concerning Cargo and Other Articles

1.1 The minimum documents required for clearance of goods through Customs for entering into the Kingdom of Thailand are as follows:
1.1.1 Import Declaration;
1.1.2 Bill of lading (B/L) of Air Waybill;
1.1.3 Invoice;
1.1.4 Packing List;
1.1.5 Import License (if applicable);
1.1.6 Certificate of Origin (if applicable);
1.1.7 Insurance Premium Invoice (if applicable);
1.1.8 Other relevant documents such as catalogue, product ingredients, etc.
1.2 The Following documents are required for transshipment of goods:
1.2.1 Transshipment Entry;
1.2.2 Bill of Lading (Through bill of landing);
1.2.3 Manifest which shown embarking port, transshipment port and destination port as same as through bill of lading; and
1.2.4 If transit goods are under controlled by various agencies it is required Transit Permit before transit the Kingdom of Thailand.
1.3 The minimum documents are required for clearance of goods to be shipped out of the Kingdom of Thailand are as follows:
1.3.1 Export Declaration;
1.3.2 Invoice;
1.3.3 Export License (if possible);
1.3.4 Other relevant documents such as catalogue, product ingredients, etc.
1.4 Permit granted by The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) is required for transport of dangerous goods by air:
1.4.1 Dangerous Goods:

Class 1: Explosives

Division 1.1: Substances and articles which have a mass explosion hazard

Division 1.2: Substances and articles which have a projection hazard but not a mass explosion hazard

Division 1.3: Substances and articles which have a fire hazard and either a minor blast hazard or a minor projection hazard or both, but not a mass explosion hazard

Division 1.4: Substances and articles which present no significant hazard

Division 1.5: Very insensitive substances which have a mass explosion hazard

Division 1.6: Extremely insensitive articles which do not have a mass explosion hazard

Class 2: Gases

Division 2.1: Flammable gases

Division 2.2: Non-flammable, non-toxic gases

Division 2.3: Toxic gases

Class 3: Flammable liquids

Class 4: Flammable solids; substances liable to spontaneous combustion; substances which, on contact with water, emit flammable gases

Division 4.1: Flammable solids, self-reactive and related substances and solid desensitized explosives and polymerizing substances

Division 4.2: Substances liable to spontaneous combustion

Division 4.3: Substances which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases

Class 5: Oxidizing substances and organic peroxides

Division 5.1: Oxidizing substances

Division 5.2: Organic peroxides

Class 6: Toxic and infectious substances

Division 6.1: Toxic substances

Division 6.2: Infectious substances

Class 7: Radioactive material

Class 8: Corrosive substances

Class 9: Miscellaneous dangerous substances and articles, including environmentally hazardous substances

1.4.2 In case of foreign air operator carry dangerous goods to, from and via Thailand, the air operator shall be approved to carry dangerous goods by the State Civil Aviation Authority or the State of Registry.

2.  Customs Procedure for Postal Parcels

2.1 Categorization of Postal Items for Customs Formalities

Postal items sent from aboard to Thailand are subject to selective inspection for Customs formalities categorization purpose before further distribution to the consignees. The postal items can be categorized into 3 groups as follow.

  • Group 1: Exempted from duty items, which are the items that follow below criteria.

    1. Postal items sent by mail and the value of each dose not exceed 1,500 baht.

    2. Trade samples of no commercial value. The Customs Officers will deliver such items to Thailand Post for further distribution to the consignees at the stated address on the postal items.

  • Group 2: Dutiable items, regardless a number of packages, sent at the same time by one consigner to another consignee or arrived simultaneously, whose FOB (Free on Board) values do not exceed 40,000 baht and are not the prohibited goods or restricted goods.

    The Customs officers will open the packages with the presence of Thailand Post officers to joint inspect and make assessment of goods. Then pass the postal items to Thailand Post to send to the destined postal office in order to distribute to the consignees and collect the duty for the Customs Department. Thailand Post will issue “Notification to collect international postal items” and send to the stated consignee. The consignee will have to take the notification to the Thailand Post office stated on “Notification to collect international postal items” to pay the duty and receive the postal items. Officers of Thailand Post will issue the receipt for the duty payment on behalf of the customs.

    In case the Customs officers find any postal items with the problems relating the goods value assessment or items that the consignees require the duty receipt issued by the Customs Department, the Customs officer will categorize such items as Group 3.

  • Group 3: Postal items other than Group 1 and Group 2.

    The Customs officers will pass the postal items to Thailand Post to keep in the cargo. Thailand Post will issue “Notification to collect international postal items” and send to the consignees stated on the package. The consignees will have to take “Notification to collect international postal items” to Postal and Airport Customs Service Division or the Customs House stated in the notification and follow the customs formalities in order to receive the goods.

    The customs formalities for the goods of Group 3 can be done in 2 ways.

    1. If the value of goods exceeds 40,000 baht, the consignee is required to make an Import Declaration Form through the paperless system.

    2. In case the value of goods does not exceed 40,000 baht, the Customs officer will then collect the duties and issue a receipt. The consignee is not required to make an Import Declaration Form.

2.2 Documents Required for receipt of postal items at Postal and Airport Customs Service Division or Customs House.
2.2.1 Documents required for fulfilling customs formalities in case of receiving goods by oneself.
  1. “Notification to collect international postal items”

  2. The personal identification card or any cards issued by the government agencies of the consignee whose name appears on the notification.

2.2.2 In the case of authority being given to other persons to receive goods on behalf on oneself.
  1. “Notification to collect international postal items” with the authority appointer being filled in details on the back of the notification and duly signed.

  2. The identification card of the appointer (copy & certified).

  3. The identification card of the appointee.

2.2.3 In the case of the consignee being a legal entity, such as a company, a firm or a shop.
  1. “Notification to collect international postal items” with the signature of the company's authorized person and the company's seal on the back of the notification.

  2. The owner's card or a manager's card or an identification card of a person empowered to sign the documents binding such legal entity (copy & certified) and the appointee's card.

  3. A certified copy of company registration.

Note: The appointee has no authorization to appoint any third person as another appointee.

2.3 Objection to Duty Assessment (items of Group 2)

When the consignees contact the Postal Office to receive the goods and are requested to pay for the duties of such goods, if the consignees disagree with the duty assessments, the consignees have to do:

  1. Make a request in writing (the request form can be downloaded from www.postalcustoms.com). The request should be submitted along with “Notification to collect international postal items” and any related document directly.

  2. The request should be submitted to Postal and Airport Customs Service Division, the Department of Customs or send through the Postal Office where the consignee contacts to receive the goods.

  3. The consignee must not accept the duties at the Postal Office. After the request has been submitted, such postal items will be sent to Postal and Airport Customs Service Division for further consideration of the request.

  4. The persons who submit the request can receive and make the payment for the duties at Postal and Airport Customs Service Division, Rongmuang Road, Wang-Mai, Patumwan District, Bangkok.

2.4 Contact us

For further inquiry and information please contact:

Customs Call Center: Call 1164 or
Customs Clinic: Call +662 667 7800-4, Fax. +662 667 7885,

E-mail: Customs_clinic@customs.go.th

Additional information may also be obtained from Customs ports of entry/exit.  Please consult our telephone directory for a Customs office near you.  The listing can be found under the “CONTACT US” section. 

3.  Plants Quarantine Requirements

3.1 Plant Quarantine Requirements: According to the Plant Quarantine Act B.E. 2507 (1964) amended by the Plant Quarantine Act (No.2) B.E. 2542 (1999) and the Plant Quarantine Act (No.3) B.E. 2551 (2008), the importation and exportation of plants shall be complied with the following rules.
3.1.1 Import Plant Quarantine Requirements
  1. Prohibited articles: Prohibited articles which are specified in Ministerial Notifications are specific part of plants, any part of plants including soil, organic fertilizer, agricultural micro-organisms, animal pests of plant, earthworms, insects, mites, nematodes, snails, slugs, weeds, parasites or predators. Any person importing or bringing in transit prohibited articles shall comply with the following rules. (i) The importation or bringing in transit of prohibited articles for research purpose shall be received permission from the Director-General, accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate and complied with criteria, procedures and conditions specified by the Director-General. (ii) The importation or bringing in transit of prohibited articles which have already been subjected to pest risk analysis and allowed to import for commercial purpose or other purposes shall be received permission from the Director-General, accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate and complied with criteria, procedures and conditions specified by the Director-General. (iii) The importation or bringing in transit of prohibited articles for research, commercial or other purposes shall be made through the plant quarantine station for inspection by the plant quarantine official.

  2. Restricted articles: Restricted articles which are specified in Ministerial Notifications are specific part of plants or any part of plants. Any person importing or bringing in transit restricted articles shall comply with the following rules. (i) The importation or bringing in transit shall be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate and complied with criteria, procedures and conditions specified by the Director-General. (ii) The importation or bringing in transit of restricted articles shall be made through the plant quarantine station for inspection by the plant quarantine official.

  3. Unprohibited articles: Unprohibited articles are plants other than prohibited and restricted articles. Any person importing or bringing in transit of unprohibited articles shall attach with a phytosanitary certificate and shall declare to the plant quarantine official.

3.1.2 Export Plant Quarantine Requirements

Any person who would carry out plants and/or plant products to abroad shall provide the phytosanitary certificate issued by Plant Quarantine Service, which comply with the requirement of the importing countries.

Procedure of export plant quarantine primarily depends on the requirements of importing countries which vary with the nature of plants and pests of quarantine concern.

These requirements generally consist of following measures.

  1. Entry prohibited.

  2. Entry approved under import permit.

  3. Entry approved with the attachment of export phytosanitary certificate issued by the plant quarantine service of the exporting country.

  4. Disinfection treatment required in exporting country.

  5. Phytosanitary inspection required at growing site in exporting country.

  6. Restriction posed on method of transportation, stage and portion of plant products, time of importation and mode of packing

By far, the most common is the requirement for export inspection and attachment of phytosanitary certificate which is issued by the Plant Quarantine Service in the country of origin. Therefore, you may have to apply for export inspection of the plants in order to obtain the phytosanitary certificate. The import requirements have to be followed which may take much time if specific requirements are required i.e. laboratory test, treatments.

Phytosanitary certification process

The applicant submits the application from P.Q.7 at the Plant Quarantine Station. In some cases, import permit from the importing countries need to be obtained in advance. Attached the import permit or its copy (if any) with the application form P.Q.7. If the import requirements cannot be followed by the plant quarantine officer at the office such as specific laboratory tests, inspection at the growing or production site, arrangements with the responsible agency has to be made in advance and laboratory report has to be attached. ‘Phytosanitary Certificate’ will be issued for the shipment which has approved by the inspectors.

Inspection method

Inspection is made primarily to confirm whether your plants are prohibited entry into the destined country or infested with the past of quarantine concern to the country.

Inspection site

Export inspection is carried out at the Plant Quarantine Station or the exporter packing house.

Other reminders

Some kind of plants must be examined by special inspection procedure. Please remind, therefore, that the inspection may not be completed within a day.

Fees

The applicant shall pay inspection (and/or treatment) and issuance of a phytosanitary certificate fee at the rate specified by the Director General, Department of Agriculture.

4.  Animal Quarantine Requirements

4.1 Exportation
4.1.1 Animals or animal carcasses specified in Animal Epidemics Act B.E.2558(2015) and Ministerial Regulations is prohibited unless accompanied by Export License and Veterinary Health Certificate granted by Authorized Veterinary Officer of Department of Livestock Development.
4.1.2 Application for Export License and Veterinary Health Certificate must be done at least 15 days prior to date of departure.
4.2 Importation, Transshipment
4.2.1 Animals or animal carcasses specified in Animal Epidemics Act B.E.2558(2015) and Ministerial Regulations is prohibited unless there are Import Permit granted by Authorized Veterinary Officer of Department of Livestock Development and Veterinary Health Certificate of the country of origin.
4.2.2 Veterinary Health Certificate of the country of origin must be in English and issued by an Authorized Veterinary Officer and accompanied with every shipment of animals and/or animal carcasses. The aforementioned Certificate should meet the importation requirement of Department of Livestock Development.
4.2.3 Import Permit granted by Authorized Veterinary Officer of Department of Livestock Development must be done at least 15 days prior to date of entry.
4.2.4 Veterinary Health Certificate and Permit must declare to the Authorized Veterinary Officer at port of entry.
4.2.5 The carrier administrator shall provide details of imported animals and/or animal carcasses into Kingdom of Thailand to Animal Quarantine Station of port of entry before the arrival date of such carrier.