According to Section 8 of the Foreign Business Act of 1999, foreigners cannot operate businesses in respect of which Thai nationals are not ready to compete with foreigners yet, as prescribed in List Three, unless upon obtaining permission from the Director-General with the approval of the Commission.
Hence, the business activities that are in List Three are as follows:
- Rice milling and production of flour from rice and economic plants
- Fishery only in respect of the hatching and raising of aquatic animals
- Forestry from a grown forest
- Production of plywood, veneer wood, chipboards or hardboards
- Production of lime
- Provision of accounting services
- Provision of legal services
- Provision of architectural services
- Provision of engineering services
- Construction, with the exception of:
- Construction of structures for delivery of infrastructure public services in the sphere of public utilities or transportation requiring the use of special apparatuses, machines, technology or expertise, with the minimum capital of five hundred million Baht or upwards from foreigners;
- Construction of other types as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation
- Brokerage or agency business, with the exception of:
- Being a broker or an agent in the sale or purchase of securities or in services related to futures trading of agricultural commodities or financing instruments or securities;
- Being a broker or an agent in the sale, purchase or procurement of goods or services necessary for the production or the provision of services amongst affiliated enterprises;
- Being a broker or an agent in the sale or purchase, procurement, distribution of domestically manufactured or imported goods, which is in character the operation of international trade, with the minimum capital of one hundred million Baht or upwards from foreigners;
- Being a broker or an agent of other types as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation
- Sale by auction, with the exception of:
- A sale by auction which, in character, involves international bidding of items other than antiques, objects of antiquity or artistic objects that are artistic works or handicrafts or objects of antiquity of Thailand or of historical value of the country;
- Sales by auction of other types are prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation
- Internal trade related to traditional agricultural products or produce not yet prohibited by law
- Retail sale of goods of all types with the total minimum capital in the amount lower than one hundred million Baht or with the minimum capital of each store in the amount lower than twenty million Baht
- Wholesale of all types with the minimum capital of each store in the amount lower than one hundred million Baht
- Advertising business
- Hotel business, with the exception of the hotel management service
- Guided touring
- Sale of food and beverages
- Cultivation, propagation or development of plant varieties
- Other service businesses, with the exception of service businesses as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation
Thai Lawyers have been registering companies in Thailand for many years now. Consult with us to see if you need to obtain a Foreign Business License or not before you operate your business in Thailand.