Thailand’s Possibility of Becoming a Party to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters of 2019

Abstract

At present, Thailand does not have any international agreement with any country regarding recognition and enforcement following the foreign judgment in a civil and commercial case, nor has related internal law. Therefore, when there is a petition to the Thai court to recognize or enforce according to foreign judgment, there is no clear practice. Thus, this ambiguity has subsisted in Thailand for a long time and became the provenance of this article.

In 2019 the Hague Conference on Private international law (HCCH) concluded a new convention known as “the 2019 Hague Judgment Convention” which has attracted much international attention, although not yet entered into force and not yet acceded by any country. This article aims to analyze the context of this 2019 convention along with research on Thai’s internal law that applies to the recognition and enforcement of the foreign judgment, which at present, Thailand does not have any international agreement with any country regarding recognition and enforcement following the foreign judgment in a civil and commercial case, nor has related internal law. There is only some related judgment.

In conclusion, the outcome verified the hypothesis that Thailand should have a clear internal law on recognition and enforcement of foreign judgment regardless of whether acceded to the convention or other associate conventions in the future. Due to the fact that Thailand is currently unprepared to accede to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters of 2019. In this regard, Thailand should develop a proper law of its own which could be done by taking the laws of other countries as models, adopting the good points of the Convention or creating a new legal innovation on its own, so that Thailand may have a written, clear and systematic internal law that truly well protects the interests of the Thai people before deciding to enter into any international agreement relating to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.