Import alcohol to Thailand: Alcohol license.
If you plan to sell or import alcohol in Thailand, you will have to acquire an alcohol license in order to operate your business legally.
Alcohol import license.
Two acts regulate the manufacturing, import and sale of alcoholic beverages in Thailand. It concerns the Liquor Act of 1950 and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act of 2008. The first defines the term spirit or liquor as any material or mixture that contains alcohol and is consumable or becomes consumable after mixing with water or other liquids.
They are subdivided into two groups:
Undistllled spirits – or mixtures of fermented spirits with distilled spirits with alcohol volume less than 15 degrees
Distilled spirits – or mixtures of distilled spirits with fermented spirits with alcohol volume more than 15 degrees (e.g. whiskey, brandy, rum, vodka, gin, etc.)
The Excise Department is not only responsible to collect the excise tax on alcohol; they are also the regulatory agency for alcohol production and distribution (in accordance with the Liquor Act B.E. 2493). The licensing system of the Excise Department obliges the licensee to sell the above-mentioned alcoholic beverages in line with Thai regulation.
One should apply for an alcohol license with The Excise Department (Ministry of Finance) if it is their intention to:
- Alcohol production and possession of related equipments
- Import more than one litre of alcohol
- Transport of untaxed alcohol from a factory
- Transport of more than ten (10) litres of alcohol
- Transport more than one liter but less than ten (10) liters of alcohol between specified territories (provinces)
- Sell alcoholic beverages
The Liquor Act prohibits license holders to sell alcoholic beverages: a) to people younger than 20 years or those people that lose their consciousness when they drink; b) between 12 pm and 11 am and from 2 pm to 5 pm and c) ‘within’ or ‘next to’ educational and religious areas.
Import of alcohol.
First of all, before importing alcohol that was not manufactured in Thailand, one should receive the approval of the officer of the Excise Department. A form “SOR2/74” will have to be completed and a fee per issued license will have to be paid to the officer:
- 200 THB/issued license when imported for trade or
- 50 THB/issued license when import for non-trade activities
The other documents required for a license depend on whether one has an intention to trade or not:
In principle, one should receive this license within 30 minutes.
Import duties.
Apart from the liquor license, duties are levied on imported goods before they are released from the custody of Customs:
- Customs import duties
- Excise tax for Excise Department and Interior Tax
- Value Added Tax (VAT) for the Revenue Department
Import duties are imposed at a specific rate, an ad valorem rate, or at a compound basis. The base of the ad valorem rate is determined by the domestic value (‘true market value’) of the imported good, calculated at the official exchange rate. The true market value of the goods is the wholesale cash price (duties excluded) for which similar goods would be sold and thus the prices actually paid or payable are used. The compound basis is a combination of the two others rates, very Thai and simple: “whichever of both gives the highest amount of duties, will be the rate applied”.
Most of the imported goods are subject to import duties between 5 and 60%, but this percentage may be reduced or even eliminated under a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). Although AFTA does not apply a common external rate on imported goods – which is, for example, the case for the European Union – the ASEAN countries do apply lower rates if goods are imported out of the one of the member-countries (between zero and 5%) known as the Common Effective Preferential Tariff scheme.
For what concerns wine and beer of an alcoholic strength by volume not exceeding 15% or, exceeding 15% but not exceeding 23% (fermented liquors):
| Exporting country | Ad valorem rate (%) until 31/12/2012 |
|---|---|
| The Customs Tariff Decree B.E. 2530 (Ceiling Rate) | 60 |
| ASEAN – Australia – New Zealand | 20 |
| ASEAN – China Free Trade Agreement | Exempted |
| ASEAN – JAPAN | 32.7 |
| ASEAN – KOREA | Exempted |
| ATIGA | Exempted |
| FTA Thai – Australia | 12 |
| Exemption and Reduction of Customs Duty for the Goods Originating in Japan | 27.27 |
| FTA Thai – New Zealand | 9 |
| Thai – Peru | 24 |
Special license for trading alcohol in Thailand.
If you import alcohol in order to sell it in a shop, to another distributor or in your own restaurant of bar, you additionally need an alcohol license Type 1. In order to receive this license, you must complete the “SOR.2/64” form at the Excise Department where the business is located. The license fee thereof is 8,250 THB a year. A copy of the (Performa) invoice as well as a sample of the label will have to be provided.
The latter, which is required for all packaged alcohol products that are imported into Thailand, has to be in Thai or English and has to mention the following items:
Customs import duties
- The name of the product
- The alcoholic degree, which has to comply with the Thai Industrial Standards of the Ministry of Industry:
- Alcoholic degree must not be over 0.5 degree
- Alcoholic degree must not be less 1 degree
- The volume
- The name and location of the alcohol manufacturer
If all of the above is in order, the Officer of the Excise Department will issue an alcohol import license (Form “SOR 1/65”). The issued license fee is 200 THB.
Do note that the alcoholic degree of wine that is imported via the Bangkok custom house, Laemchabang custom house, Nongkai custom house, Phibunmangsahan custom house or Suvarnabumi custom house etc. are approved case by case.
All the above is required when the alcohol is imported to Thailand for the first time or when the label is changed. There are different types of licenses:
