Thailand Law Library

by Thailand Lawyer

Chapter 8: Coastal Trade

All trade by sea from one part of the Kingdom to any other part thereof shall be deemed to be coasting trade, and all vessels while employed in such trade shall be deemed to be coasting vessels.

Any vessel arriving from foreign regions and calls at a port or place in the Kingdom on her way to another port or place within the Kingdom and any vessel proceeding from one port or place in the Kingdom to another port or place on her outbound voyage to foreign regions shall in so far as the trade journey within the coastal limits is concerned be subject to the laws and regulations on coasting trade. In respect of any traffic or goods connected with foreign regions the laws and regulations relating to foreign trade shall apply.

Any coasting vessel which loads or unloads goods outside harbour limits at sea or outside the territorial waters of the Kingdom, or if any coasting vessel calls at any place outside the territorial waters or deviate from her voyage, in the absence of any compulsion by an unforeseeable circumstance, or if the master of any coasting vessel which has called at any place outside the boundary of the Kingdom does not declare such events in writing to the competent official at the first port of arrival in the Kingdom immediately upon arrival, the master of such vessel shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand Bath.

Before loading any goods intended for carriage along the coast onto any vessel which will, or might, first proceed along the coast before heading to foreign regions, a manifest shall be submitted in the prescribed form (Schedule 10), and if any amount of duty is levied on such goods upon exportation, the full amount of such duty shall be deposited at the port of clearance. Such deposit may be returned upon production of the correct certificate to the competent official (Schedule 10 (a)) within two months as from the date of clearance, indicating that the goods have landed within the boundary of the Kingdom.

Before the departure of any coasting vessel from a port or place of loading or discharge, two copies of an account in the form prescribed in Schedule 11, signed by the master of the vessel, furnishing the prescribed particulars of the vessel and goods, shall be delivered to the competent official who shall retain a duplicate and return the original, dated and signed by him. Such account may be deemed as a goods clearance certificate and the vessel’s clearance certificate. A clearance fee shall be charged in accordance with the scale as prescribed by the Minister in the Ministerial Regulations for every port specified in the said Schedule. If any coasting vessel departs from any place without such clearance certificate, or if such certificate is not produced within twenty-four hours after the arrival of the vessel at a port and before the commencement of the discharge of the goods, the master of the vessel shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand Bath.

When the Director-General considers it appropriate to issue a general goods clearance certificate for any vessel trading regularly between ports within the boundaries of the Kingdom under the conditions that a proper account of the goods carried shall be submitted to the competent official consistent with the procedure for every voyage, and that a notice in the form prescribed in Schedule 12 shall be delivered to the competent official at the port of departure before the vessel departs, and a notice as prescribed in the same Schedule shall be furnished to the competent official at the port of arrival within twenty-four hours of the arrival of the vessel and before the commencement of the discharge of the goods. Such general goods clearance certificate may be revoked at any time by written notice. If the holder of a general goods clearance certificate fails to furnish an account of the goods and the notices referred to in this section, the master shall be liable to the penalty provided in section 68.

A vessel clearance fee shall be charged in accordance with the scale prescribed by the Minister in the Ministerial Regulations in respect of vessels sailing under a general clearance certificate for every port specified in the said Schedule for which a schedule of arrival or departure under this section shall be submitted, and at the same rates chargeable on vessels for which no general clearance certificate has been issued but the Director-General may accept deposits from which the total balance due shall be deducted semi-annually.

If any goods liable to internal duties or restricted goods carried on board any coasting vessel are unloaded from the vessel without the permission of the competent official, the master of the vessel shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand Bath.

The master of every coasting vessel shall keep or cause to be kept on board a manifest to record the full particulars of each voyage, viz. the nature and quantity of the goods, the date and port of departure, the date and port of arrival and discharge, the name of the master, and any other particulars which may be necessary in any particular case, and when demanded by a competent official, the master shall produce the manifest for inspection and the competent official shall have the power to make any note or remarks in such manifest.