Jurisdiction of Electronic Transaction in Thailand

Songsil Norintorongkul Na Ayudhaya*

Therefore, the Civil Court and other Courts of First Instance have jurisdiction to adjudicate all civil and commercial cases which do not fall within the Intellectual Property and International Trade Court jurisdiction. And for electronic transaction case, if the subject matter does not involve civil cases prescribed by the rules of Intellectual Property and International Trade Court mentioned above, the defendant can be subjected to the Civil Court and other Courts of First Instance jurisdiction. However, all Thai Courts apply the same principles according to Civil Procedure Code B.E.2477 (1934) to exercise jurisdiction over the defendant.

Conclusion

Jurisdiction of electronic transaction is concerned about the authorities of the court to consider and adjudicate cases relating to civil and commercial activities in the nature of a contract, agreement or other arrangements which use the means of electronic communication. In other words, jurisdiction of electronic transaction can be called "Internet or Cyberspace jurisdiction" in commercial activities. There are many discussions whether jurisdiction of electronic transaction is similar to or different from territorial jurisdiction and currently there are no official legislations or rules and regulations are established in order to face Cyberspace jurisdiction problems, especially in Thailand. Nevertheless, it might be too soon to decide whether the law of Cyberspace jurisdiction should be established separately from the law of jurisdiction in the real world. The only way we can solve Cyberspace problems in the current situation is to apply all existing laws relating to this matter.

The existing principles of jurisdiction in Thai law include the nationality or domicile or the place of residence of the plaintiff or defendant, and the cause of action, to deal with problems of jurisdiction of electronic transaction. However, in the case that Thai Court cannot establish jurisdiction by identifying the place where the cause of action arises and the defendant resides outside Thai Court jurisdiction. Under Thai law, it is uncertain for Thai Court to establish jurisdiction over the defendant because there is no existing rules of Thai jurisdiction can be adequately applied to solve this problem. So far, there is only a legislation relating to electronic transaction in Thailand, and lack of the Supreme Court decision has been decided involving the issue of jurisdiction of electronic transaction. Thus, it is necessary to encourage Thai Courts to establish new criteria by applying principles of traditional jurisdiction along with new concept of electronic commerce law to deal with jurisdiction of electronic transaction issue in order to avoid this uncertainty of Court decision in the future.