Arbitration service
in Thailand.

Licensed arbitration services.
Thailand having signed both the New York and Geneva Convention, arbitration is an alternative for going to court. Within international commercial relations, it is common to sign an arbitration agreement or to take up an arbitration clause in the basic agreement. It should be mentioned though that arbitration may not always be a solution; in principle, arbitration is prohibited in contracts between governmental and private organizations, and may not be used in case of certain criminal, family, labour or IP conflicts.
Authorised institutes.
The parties may choose one or more persons that will decide the dispute. This may be a foreigner, as long as the governing law is not Thai law and there is no need to enforce the decision in Thailand.
Two Thai institutes have been established to support this process: the Thai Arbitration Institute of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Office and the Thai Commercial Arbitration Institute of the Board of Trade. The International Chamber of Commerce may be approached as well.
Enforcement.
In principle, both Thai and foreign arbitral awards are enforceable in Thailand. It should be mentioned however that this will only be the case if the country in which the award was taken, it also member to one of the two conventions.
Appeal.
If one of the parties would like to revoke the award, this has to be done within 90 days before a court of the country where the award was issued. Pending the decision of the court, the award will not be enforceable anywhere. If on the other hand one of the parties would refuse to comply with the decision of the arbiter, the Thai courts will be qualified to enforce the award.
The Thai court may revoke or refuse enforcement of an award if the contesting party can proof that:
- The other party was incapable
- The arbitration agreement was not binding
- He/she was not given proper advance notice before the arbitration and was thus not able to defend him- or herself properly
- The arbiter was not authorized to decide upon the dispute because it did not fall within the scope of the arbitration agreement or clause
- Other provisions of the arbitration agreement or clause were set at naught
- The award is not yet binding or is suspended
- Enforcement would be contrary to the public policy