ส.อ.ท. หารือเร่งด่วน ถกแนวทางป้องกันการสวมสิทธิ์สินค้าไปสหรัฐฯFTI Holds Urgent Meeting to Discuss Measures Preventing Trademark Infringement for Exports to the United States

On Tuesday, April 22, 2025, Mr. Kriangkrai Thiennukool, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), assigned Mr. Nava Chanthanasurakorn, Vice Chairman of the FTI, to attend a meeting on preventing trademark infringement for exports to the United States, along with Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, the Prime Minister, and Mr. Wuttikrai Leewiraphan, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, the Customs Department, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and the Federation of Thai Chambers of Commerce at Government House.

The Ministry of Commerce reported that exports of goods under surveillance to the United States require a Certificate of Origin Form C/O. Currently, there are three agencies in Thailand authorized to issue the Certificate of Origin Form C/O, comprising (1) the Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, (2) the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Thai Chambers of Commerce, and (3) the Federation of Thai Industries. The current issue observed is that goods from abroad are imported through Thailand for export to the United States using Thai Certificates of Origin, which is a concern for the United States. The meeting proposed the following corrective measures:

1. Designate the Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, as the sole issuing authority for the Certificate of Origin Form C/O for goods under surveillance for export to the United States.
2. The Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, will improve the verification process before issuing certificates, including detailed factory inspections and strict document checks for high-risk goods, collaborating with the Department of Industry, Ministry of Industry, and relevant agencies.
3. The Department of Foreign Trade has discussed with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regarding their concerns and joint operational guidelines, establishing a framework for joint inspections to ensure that U.S. Customs accepts Thailand's inspections. Furthermore, the U.S. Customs will provide training to relevant Thai officials.

The Prime Minister requested cooperation from all relevant agencies, both public and private sectors, to collaboratively resolve this issue within 90 days and to find future measures to prevent goods from being misrepresented before being exported to other destination countries, as previous laws may be outdated or inadequate to cover irregular or illegal activities as we see today.

Mr. Nava presented to the meeting that the FTI, through its member relations department and the Executive Committee meeting, unanimously agrees to cooperate with the Ministry of Commerce to prevent such trademark infringement and noted that there has never been a case where the Certificate of Origin issued by the FTI has been found to contain false declarations by U.S. Customs during random inspections.

Moreover, the FTI submits proposals to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Commerce to consider implementing the following measures:
1. Request the Department of Foreign Trade to facilitate the issuance of general Certificates of Origin for surveillance goods without affecting the convenience for Thai exporters. Importantly, exporters adhering to the law should be able to receive general Certificates of Origin promptly and efficiently, as before.
2. Request the Ministry of Commerce to intensify monitoring teams to screen violators who evade compliance with the Ministry of Commerce's regulations or integrate with other ministries as per their regulations to prosecute offenders and prevent future malpractice.
3. In the long term, the Ministry of Commerce should review related laws, especially penalties, to ensure they are more stringent.