Thailand's WMD Law Will Require Exporters to Obtain New Licenses

Thailand’s recently passed Weapons of Mass Destruction Related Items Act will take effect Jan. 1, 2020, according to a June 4 notice from Baker McKenzie, regulating all goods related to the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Products include “armaments,” dual-use items and “tangible and intangible items that could have commercial interest, technology or even software,” the notice said. The act would control exports, re-exports, transshipments, transits, brokering and other actions related to the weapons.

Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce is expected to issue a list of products that fall under the dual-use category based on the most recent European Union dual-use item list, the notice said. Individuals or companies that trade these items will need a license from Thailand's Ministry of Commerce. Traders who do not obtain the required license face a maximum sentence of two years in prison or a fine of up to about $6,300 (U.S. dollars), the notice said. If the trader’s failure to obtain a license is related “to the spread of WMDs to cause harm to others,” the notice said, the maximum prison sentence will be increased to 10 years and the fine will be increased to nearly $32,000. The ministry will also confiscate the trader’s products.

Thailand will also issue a second list of products that require certifications that “are not related in any way to the spread of WMDs, which is based on the latest Harmonized System Codes,” the notice said. No license will be required for these items, according to the notice, but the trader will have to self-certify to the country’s commerce ministry that their goods are not dual-use items before they can be traded.