The Foreign Dominance Notification in 2012 introduces foreign dominance criteria in the telecommunication sector by taking into account elements such as shareholding, management control and supply relationship. This Act is promulgated by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
The Foreign Dominance Regulation provides restriction from performing any actions which are deemed as “foreigner dominance” as stated in the Regulation:
- holding voting shares in a company equal to one-half or more of all voting rights;
- having controlling power over the majority vote of a company shareholders’ meeting; or
- having the power to appoint or remove one-half or more of all of a company’s directors, among others.

The schedule of Prohibitions of Foreign Dominance Behaviors includes the prohibited behaviors: dominance by shareholders, voting rights, controlling power, legal relationships with sources of funds and loans, intellectual property agreements, procurement agreements, joint business operations, and transfer pricing.

It reported that Thailand has not revised its WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) schedule, as it committed to do, to reflect the higher foreign-equity limits stated in the Foreign Business Act. The foreign investor also is required to provide a minimum capital to be used for the commencement of the operation of a business that falls within the Annex List of the FBA shall not be less than 3 million Thai Baht (around 97,707 USD) (Section 14).

Section 16(2) of the Foreign Business Act (FBA) 1999 prescribes that a foreigner who intends to apply for a business license in Thailand must have a residence in the Kingdom or have permitted to temporarily enter into the Kingdom. The Minister empowers to issue Ministerial Regulations prescribing any of the following conditions to be observed by foreigners who are license grantees: the number of foreign directors who must have a domicile or residence in the Kingdom; or the period for maintaining the minimum capital in the country (Section 18). In addition, there are no nationality or residency requirements for managers.

Applicants of Type 2 and Type 3 telecom licenses shall not be foreigners (prescribed under the Foreign Business Act) (Section 8 amended by Telecommunications Business Act (No.2) in 2006). The applicant must be a natural person who has Thai nationality or a juristic person registered in Thailand. Therefore, the majority of the board of directors of the telecommunication business must have Thai nationality.

The Notifications of the NTC regarding type 2 and type 3 license provides the qualification that the board of directors and managers must be followed (Clause 3 of the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC)'s Notification regarding Criteria and Procedure for Granting License Type2 and the NTC's Notification regarding Criteria and Procedure for Granting License Type 3 in 2005).

The Notification regarding License Foreign Satellite to Provide Domestic Services prescribes nationality and residency requirements. The applicant who wishes to operate satellite must be: (1) a limited company or public limited company established as a juristic person under Thai law with an establishment in Thailand, and also (2) a representative of a foreign satellite operator who meets the qualifications prescribe state policy (Clause 5).

There are no reports on investments in the telecommunication or ICT sector having been blocked on national interest grounds. Nevertheless, Section 5 of the Thai Foreign Business Act (FBA) states that in granting permission to foreigners for the operation of businesses under the Foreign Business Act, regard shall be given to advantageous and disadvantageous effects on national safety and security, economic and social development of the country, public order or good morals, national values in arts, culture, traditions and customs, natural resources conservation, energy, environmental preservation, consumer protection, sizes of undertakings, employment, technology transfer and research and development.

Section 8 of the FBA provides 3 categories of controlled business activities:
(1) List 1: Business activities which are prohibited to foreigners for special reasons;
(2) List 2: Business activities related to national safety, security, or which have an impact on arts, culture, traditions, customs, folklore handicrafts, natural resources, and the Environment;
(3) List 3: Business activities in which Thai nationals are not yet ready to compete with foreigners, including the telecommunications sector (the Annexed of the FBA includes the detailed information of the businesses in List 1, 2, and 3).

The foreigners can operate telecoms businesses provided that they do not have their own telecommunications network, and the characteristics of their businesses are appropriate to provide services on the basis of liberalization or telecommunications type 1. Nevertheless, if the telecommunications business has its own network (Type2 and Type 3 telecoms business), it is prohibited from being acquired by a foreigner (Section 8 (1)). The National Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) regulates the merger in the telecommunication sector. The Commission has the power to prescribe specific measures to prevent monopoly in the telecoms market (Section 21). Moreover, the licensee acts or is acted upon in such manner as the business takeover shall be reported.

In 2020, Chapter 7/1 of the Ministerial Regulation (No.2) defines 'Promoted domestic manufactured supplies' as the domestic productions being certified 'Made in Thailand' by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI). 'Made in Thailand' certification is only allowed for domestic manufacture. The Approval List certified by the FTI is now published.

The procurement methods must be conducted in accordance with the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act 2017. In case the certified supplies are insufficient to meet the demand, or the imported manufactures or products are necessary, the government authority must propose particular issues to the head of the government departments for consideration. Moreover, the governmental department must spend at least 60 percent of their budgets procuring domestic supplies for construction work and some non-construction work (Clause 27/3).

In 2015, the Cabinet Resolutions proposed to grant privilege to the products listed as Thai Innovative Product. Since 2016. The Budget Bureau has introduced the monthly report of 'Thai Innovation List' to develop domestic industrial capacity in several innovation-centered economic sectors. The Innovation List grants special government procurement privilege only to the products from authorized Thai majority-owned companies. The list covers the product from various sectors: pharmaceuticals, agriculture, transportations, construction, electronics, etc. In particular, the list of electronic sector covers Electrical, Electronics, and Telecommunication.

The Innovation Products is prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation 2020. The products listed as Innovation Product are those that the state needs to promote or support (Clause 12). Thai governmental departments must spend at least 30 percent of their budget procuring the listed products (Clause 13).

Regarding the Ministerial Regulation, 'Products Promote Teaching and Learning' is defined as products or services manufactured under the scope of learning and teaching by the personnel of educational institutes (Clause 8). Clause 9(8) includes the list of promoted supplies in a particular sector: battery or service related to battery, by-products from manufacturing, and battery products of military and industry.

Regarding the procurement methods, the promoted supplies in Clause 9(8) require to adopt the 'Specific Procurement Methods' and with the exception that it is applicable for the government department to implement other procurement methods (Clause 10). The term 'Specific procurement methods' refers to the fact that the procuring entity invites only one specific qualified supplier to submit a proposal or participate in price-bargaining negotiations.

Section 73 of the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act 2017 provides restrictions on foreign consultants in public procurement. Similarly, the Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Criteria, Procedures, and Conditions for Registration as Consultants 2017 states that both independent and juristic consultants must have Thai nationality. The law prioritizes the local consultant. The foreign consultant can only participate in the public procurement when it is necessary (stated in Clause 101 of the Regulation of the Ministry of Finance on Public Procurement and Supplies Administration 2017).

Specifically, the Regulation of the Ministry of Finance 2017 specifies that foreign consultants must join the team with Thai personnel to convey knowledge and technologies to the Thai personnel, except when there is not Thai personnel in a certain field (Clause 101, Chapter 3).

In general, Thailand does not allow direct cross-border participation of foreign suppliers in its government procurement contracts. The Comptroller General's Department (CGD) maintains a mandatory registration system for business operators that wish to participate in Thailand's government procurement. Importantly, the country does not implement specific exclusion of foreign companies or products.

In 2017, the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration entered into force and repealed the previous legislation to increase transparency. Moreover, the Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Criteria Concerning Persons Eligible for Registration of Business Operators defines "Business Operator" as an operator of construction services. Regarding Chapter 1: Qualifications and Disqualifications of Business Operators Eligible for Registration of the Ministerial Regulation, those who eligible for the registration of business operators must be a juristic person registered and having an office located in Thailand (Clause 3 (1)), and half of the board directors must hold Thai citizenship (Clause 3(3)).

According to Taiwan's de minimis rule, goods not exceeding 50 SDR / 2000 TWD / 72 USD of value are exempted from taxes and duties collected by customs. This has been reduced from 3,000 TWD which applied before 2018.

Taiwan did not sign the UN Convention on Electronic Communications.