Treaty of Amity Company

What is a Treaty of Amity Company?

A Treaty of Amity Company is a company with American majority ownership operating business in Thailand. It may be a US registered corporation or a Thai limited company. One of the main characteristics of a Treaty of Amity company is that it must have more American shareholders holding more shares of the company than other nationalities. The fact that the number of American authorized directors must be more than that of other nationalities is another main characteristic of Treaty of Amity companies.

The Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Thailand or, in short, the Treaty of Amity, is an agreement between the United States and Thailand which aims to promote trade, commerce, cultural understanding and reciprocal legal rights between the countries. The Treaty of Amity, signed on May 29, 1966, gives Thai and American nationals the right to enter the opposite party’s territory for business and investment purposes.  The Treaty of Amity extends national treatment to Thai and US majority owned business entities engaging in commercial enterprises in the opposite party’s territory. However, there are important exceptions like the fact that the Treaty of Amity allows both parties to impose restrictions on letting the citizens of the opposite party engage in the reserved businesses of communications, transportation, fiduciary functions, banking involving depository functions, land ownership, exploitation of land or other natural resources and domestic trade in indigenous agricultural products.

Thai and American nationals also have access to the judiciary in America and Thailand respectively.

Here is the full Treaty of Amity.

If you are American and want to have a majority ownership in a business in Thailand or to have your US corporation operate in Thailand, you will need to get the Certificate of Business Operation from the Bureau of Foreign Business Administration, Department of Business Development  of the Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. It takes about a month to get it. Once your business gets the certificate, your company can be referred to as a Treaty of Amity company.