THAILAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Phatsawat Siwawej, Piyachon Jiraratmethakorn and Ketsirin Wisetwatcharawong, Weerawong C&P
• a Thai translation of the arbitral award and the arbitration agreement, which must be prepared by a certified translator, or by a Thai envoy or consul in the country where the award or agreement was made. Upon receiving the request, the court will forward the application to the opposing party, so as to give them an opportunity to file an objection. The opposing party has 30 days to file the objection, which can be extended with the court’s approval. Once an objection is filed, the court will schedule one or more hearings to address the issues of the case and the number of witnesses, and set trial dates for examining the evidence. The court will conduct evidence examination trials, where both parties present their evidence and cross- examine the evidence presented by the opposing party. After reviewing the arbitral award and ensuring its compliance with Thai law, the court will render a judgment on whether or not to enforce the award. The judgment of the court of first instance is imme - diately enforceable, unless one party files an appeal with the court of appeal and requests a stay of the execution or enforcement process. If the court of appeal orders a stay, the execution or enforcement process will be suspended until the case is finalised. The judgment can be appealed to the Supreme Court on limited grounds, such as when: • the recognition or enforcement of the award would be contrary to public order; • the judgment contradicts legal provisions related to public order; • the judgment conflicts with the arbitral award itself; or • the presiding judge has provided conflicting opin - ions in the judgment. The Thai Arbitration Law does not explicitly specify whether or not the Thai courts have the authority to annul a foreign arbitral award. A Supreme Court rul - ing (in case No 5511-5512/2552 (2009)) ruled that the Thai courts could set aside a foreign arbitral award.
However, this ruling was revisited in 2015 by a further Supreme Court ruling (in case No 9476/2558 (2015)), which stated that the Thai courts cannot set aside a foreign arbitral award as the Thai Arbitration Law only bestows on the Thai courts the authority to annul an award with the seat of arbitration in Thailand. Regardless of the country in which the arbitral award was made, the court has the authority to deny enforce - ment if the party against whom enforcement is sought provides evidence that the award has been set aside by the courts at the seat of arbitration. In situations where an award is currently undergo - ing set-aside proceedings at the seat of arbitration, the court has the discretion to delay the enforcement hearing as it deems necessary and appropriate. According to the Thai Arbitration Law, the Thai courts cannot raise a defence of sovereign immunity at the enforcement stage, unless the recognition or enforce - ment of such award will be against public order or the good morals of the people of Thailand. 12.3 Approach of the Courts In general, Thai courts have a pro-enforcement approach when it comes to the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. There are only limited circumstances where the court has refused to rec - ognise or enforce an arbitral award based on public policy or other grounds. For example, an award grant - ing compound interest was refused enforcement by the Thai Court as it was inconsistent with Section 224 of the Civil and Commercial Code, a provision of law concerning the public policy of Thailand (Supreme Court Judgment No 500-501/2565 (2022)). 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration Class action arbitrations, which were previously allowed in Thailand under the Regulation of the Office of the Judiciary Governing Arbitration, Arbitra - tion Institute (No 3) BE 2563 (2020), have been can - celled by the subsequent regulation (the Regulation of the Office of the Judiciary Governing Arbitration, Arbitration Institute (No 3) BE 2564 (2021)). Therefore,
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