Jurisdiction of Electronic Transaction in Thailand

Songsil Norintorongkul Na Ayudhaya*

As we can see from Section 4 (1) of this Act, there are two principles to establish personal jurisdiction in Thai Court, the first principle is the case that if the defendant is domiciled in the territory of Thailand regardless of whether the defendant has Thai nationality or other nationalities, the defendant can be subjected to Thai jurisdiction. The second principle is the case that if the cause of action arises in the territory of Thailand, the defendant can be sued in the Thai court regardless of whether the defendant has domicile within Thailand or not. In practice, the plaintiff can choose to file the lawsuit either at the court where defendant is domicile or the court where the cause of action arises. In addition, the Civil Procedure Code B.E.2477 (1934) describes further how to determine the domicile of the defendant in Section 3 (2). The Section provides that

According to this provision, The Act prescribes the criteria to define the defendant's domicile even though the defendant is not domiciled in Thai jurisdiction at the time the plaintiff files the lawsuit. The place is considered to be the domicile of the defendant depending on two criteria in paragraph (a) and (b). First, under Section 3 (2) (a), It is clear that Thai law prescribes two year timeframe for the defendants liability if the defendant had domicile in Thailand before the defendant left Thailand. Thus, the defendant can be sued in the Thai Court if the defendant left Thailand less than two years from the date of submitting the plaint. Secondly, according to Section 3 (2) (b), There needs to be a connection between the defendant and Thailand that is, if the defendant used to carry on business in the territory of Thailand or had the representative in doing business in Thailand. The place considered to be the domicile of the defendant is the place where the defendant used to carry on business or the place which is residence of the representative of the defendant within the prescription of two years from the date of submitting the plaint.

Moreover, in the case that the defendant is not domiciled within Thai jurisdiction, according to the Civil Procedure Code B.E.2477 (1934) Section 3 (2) and 4(1) and the cause of action does not arise in the territory of Thailand. The Civil Procedure Code B.E.2477 (1934) provides principle of jurisdiction over the defendant if the plaintiff has Thai nationality or domicile in Thailand in Section 4 ter. This Section provides that