Treaty eligibility assessment
Advice tailored to the legal, documentary and implementation requirements relevant to treaty eligibility assessment.
Corporate Law & M&A
Treaty-Based Business Establishment in Thailand
Explore whether the Treaty of Amity, JTEPA or TAFTA may offer a qualifying route for your proposed activities and ownership structure.
The legal position
Amity, JTEPA and TAFTA address different questions
Treaty treatment is conditional, not a blanket exemption. Each agreement operates within its own nationality, ownership, control, activity and procedural conditions.
The agreements should be considered separately rather than treated as interchangeable routes to unrestricted foreign ownership. The first step is a transaction-specific review of the investor, ownership chain, proposed activity, reservations, scheduled conditions and certification process.
The operative 1966 Treaty
The Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations between Thailand and the United States was signed on 29 May 1966. Its substantive analysis uses ownership or control and the Treaty reservations, not an assumed blanket exemption.
Ownership and control require a transaction-specific review
Eligibility requires a review of U.S. nationality, ownership and control of the relevant enterprise, including possible direct or indirect third-country controlling interests, together with the proposed activity and the Treaty's reservations.
The treaty position must be translated into an operating route
Treaty-based access depends on qualification, covered activities, conditions and completion of the relevant certification and Foreign Business Certificate process. Exact procedures and evidence should be confirmed for the particular route at the time of instruction.
How SBC Law can assist
Focused support built around the matter and its commercial context.
Our role is tailored to the route, the evidence and the outcome required—not a standardised package applied to every matter.
Nationality, ownership and control review
Advice tailored to the legal, documentary and implementation requirements relevant to nationality, ownership and control review.
Reservation and activity analysis
Advice tailored to the legal, documentary and implementation requirements relevant to reservation and activity analysis.
Certification and FBC process
Advice tailored to the legal, documentary and implementation requirements relevant to certification and fbc process.
Discuss your objectives
Advice shaped around the objective and the operating context.
Tell us what you are planning, what has changed and where you need clarity. Our Bangkok team will help identify the relevant legal pathway.