THAILAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Chusert Supasitthumrong, John Frangos, Alongkorn Tongmee and Eric Meyer, Tilleke & Gibbins
13. Arbitration 13.1 Laws Regarding the Conduct of Arbitration
13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration Both domestic and foreign arbitral awards have the same enforcement procedure, as follows: • A party seeking to enforce an arbitral award may file a request with a competent court within three years of the award becoming enforceable. • Applicants for an enforcement of an arbitral award must produce: (a) the original award or a certified copy; (b) the original arbitration agreement or a certified copy; and (c) Thai translations of the award and arbitration agreement certified by a sworn translator, an authorised officer, a diplomatic delegate or a Thai consul. 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform While there are periodic amendments to portions of the Civil Procedure Code that affect the way civil cases are handled by the courts, there are currently no proposals for significant dispute resolution reform on the horizon. 14.2 Growth Areas There is no single area of growth for commercial dis- putes in Thailand. However, the authors anticipate an increase in construction-related disputes. To stimu- late the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic, the Thai government has promoted various infrastructure projects in different sectors. With increased invest- ment and activity on these projects, comes increased potential for commercial disputes, particularly those related to construction. As the agreements for these projects will typically include an arbitration clause, the authors anticipate that this will lead to an increase in the number of commercial disputes arising out of these projects being submitted to arbitral tribunals, both in Thailand and elsewhere.
The relevant laws regarding the conduct of arbitra- tions and the recognition or enforcement of arbitral awards in Thailand are the Arbitration Act B.E. 2545 (2002) and certain provisions of the Civil Procedure Code (Sections 210–222) that specifically address arbitration proceedings. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration Disputes relating to criminal matters, family law, labour issues and certain intellectual property cases cannot be resolved through arbitration, as doing so would conflict with public policy. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award Parties can challenge an arbitral award, either domes- tic or foreign, on the following grounds: • the party against whom the award was sought was legally incapacitated; • the arbitration agreement is not binding under the law of the country agreed to by the parties (or, fail- ing any indication, under Thai law); • the party against whom the award was sought was not given notice of the arbitration proceedings in time to present its case, or was not properly repre- sented in the proceedings; • the award does not deal with all the disputes submitted to arbitration or contains a decision on matters beyond the scope of the arbitration agree- ment; • the composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbi- tral proceedings was not in accordance with the parties’ agreement or, if not agreed by the parties, in accordance with the Arbitration Act; • the award has been annulled in the country in which it was rendered; or • the enforcement of the award would be contrary to public policy (referred to as “public order or good morals” in the Arbitration Act).
1119 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook