Just recently, several duty exemption measures were announced by the Thai Cabinet to help manufactures whose companies were affected by flooding and located within declared disaster areas. Briefly, these duty exemption measures cover the following categories and apply to imports made during the period 25 October 2011 to 30 June 2012.

1) Machinery, components and parts, including related tools and equipment, that are imported to replace or repair machines damaged by the floods, subject to the following conditions:

i) The eligible business operator must be located in a declared disaster area.

ii) The eligible business operator may import itself or assign another party to import on its behalf. In such instance, the assigned party must present an approval letter to the Customs Department at the time of import entry.

iii) The machinery, components and parts, including related tools and equipment must be new.

iv) The Ministry of Industry will issue an approval letter authorizing the import and the importer must present this approval letter at the time of entry.

2) Completely built-up (CBU) passenger vehicles under HS 87.03 and CBU pick-ups under HS 87.04 with engine size not exceeding 3,000 cc, subject to the following conditions:

i) The eligible business operator must be an automobile manufacturer whose plant operations cover the complete vehicle production process, including
body-making, painting and vehicle assembly. They must also be located in a
declared disaster area. Manufacturers of vehicles assembled with used parts are
therefore excluded.

ii) Those models of CBU vehicles imported must not currently be manufactured at other local plants. Further details of terms and conditions of this exemption to be issued by the Office of Industry Economics.

iii) The eligible importer must be the automobile manufacturer itself.

iv) The Office of Industry Economics will issue an approval letter authorizing the import and the importer must present this letter at the time of entry.

3) Spare parts for vehicles that are imported for local production:

i) The eligible business operator must be a vehicle parts manufacturer that is located in a declared disaster area.

ii) The eligible business operator may import itself or assign other local vehicle
parts manufacturers to import on its behalf for further assembly. However, the
operator cannot assign to a used parts vehicle manufacturer. If the right to
import is assigned to another party, written notification must be made to the
Customs Department at the time of entry.

iii) The spare parts imported must be new, have never been used and be of the same type that the eligible business operator was producing prior to the flooding; moreover, the imported parts must be used for local assembly of vehicles or vehicle parts.

iv) The Office of the Economics Industry will issue an approval letter authorizing the import and the importer must present this letter at the time of entry.

Remark: Further details on rules/regulations relevant to these measures have yet to be announced.