Population: 65,444,371

Economy Overview:

Thailand has a well developed infrastructure, a free-enterprise economy, and welcomes foreign investment. Thailand has fully recovered from the 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis and was one of East Asia's best performers in 2002-04. Increased consumption and investment spending and strong export growth pushed GDP growth up to 6.9% in 2003 and 6.1% in 2004 despite a sluggish global economy. The highly popular government's expansionist policy, including major support of village economic development, has raised concerns about fiscal discipline and the health of financial institutions. Bangkok has pursued preferential trade agreements with a variety of partners in an effort to boost exports and maintain high growth, and in 2004 began negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with the US. In late December 2004, a major tsunami took 8,500 lives in Thailand and caused massive destruction of property in the southern provinces of Krabi, Phangnga, and Phuket.

General Business Practices.

1. Thai is the main language used throughout the country, and English as the second language is extensively used in business transactions.
2. The primary monetary unit used in the country is Baht. One Baht is made up of one hundred Satang.
3. Supporting documents need to be provided in English, along with a synopsis of the claim and a Power of Attorney.

Collections

A. Background of Industry

1. There exits no national collectors? association in Thailand. No amount of annual collection nor the volume of collection work could be estimated.
2. Only a very few agencies specialize in debt collection. Most law and accounting firms handle debt collection work. For international debt collections only a handful of firms undertake such assignments through their world wide network.
3. Collection work is done on both consumer and commercial accounts.

B. Licensing Requirements

No licensing or bonding is required for collection lawyers or agents.

C. General Procedures

1. Debt collection work is done in two stages : non-litigation and litigation. Most debts are collected without having to resort to litigation; only in very rare cases is litigation initiated.
2. At non-litigation stage, steps usually taken include --- identification and location of debtor; phoning and sending of formal demand notice; meeting with debtor for payment or mode of settlement of debt. As a general practice, formal demand notice is signed by a lawyer.
Remarks : Time limitation needs to be always borne in mind while collection work is being undertaken at non-litigation stage. If it is pending too long or if there is a lack of creditor?s decision to act within the time limit, the claim may become time-barred.

D. Charges and Remuneration

1. For clients in general, charges at non-litigation stage are of two types : a graded operation fee and a fixed contingent fee. At litigation stage, an additional hourly fee for lawyer?s appearance in court is charged.
2. It is a one-time charge of contract work, except lawyer?s hourly fee for court appearance.
3. Passing on of collection charges to the debtor is not a general practice.
4. Addition of interest to the unpaid bill or debt is optional, if it is not expressly stated in the contract for payment of interest. Interest allowed by court is 7.5% per annum.

E. Accounting and Remitting

1. There are no restrictions for sending payments in and out of the country.
2. In most cases, payments are collected by the agency. In some cases, direct payments are made to the creditor. In the latter cases, the creditor or assignor keeps the assignee informed of the receipt of payment