Army Equipment in Thailand

Thai government agencies are obliged to buy Thai. A ministerial regulation effective 8 December 2020 requires agencies to procure domestically produced goods for at least 60% of their goods requirement. Made in Thailand status is certified by the Federation of Thai Industries and calls for 40% or more domestic raw-material content. A foreign-owned company with a factory in Thailand can qualify; an exporter shipping from China cannot. For tender quantities of clothing, footwear or protective equipment the realistic route is a Thai manufacturing or assembly partner holding MiT certification, with imported supply confined to whatever falls outside the 60%.

How the e-GP process now runs

Procurement runs through the Comptroller General's Department at the Ministry of Finance under the Government Procurement and Supplies Management Act 2017, with notices on gprocurement.go.th. Electronic appeals are mandatory, and small and medium enterprises receive a 10% price preference. Thailand is a GPA observer, not a party, so no treaty opens procurement to a foreign bidder.

TISI catches parts, not the whole

There is no pre-shipment verification of conformity programme. Certification is product-specific, run by the Thai Industrial Standards Institute under the Industrial Product Standards Act, with roughly 112 to 129 items across 18 sectors under mandatory standards. Where a mandatory TIS applies, the importer must hold a TISI licence before taking the goods from Customs, and TISI issues a release letter to Customs. General equipment under HS 84 is largely outside the mandatory list, but components inside a unit can be caught: the efficiency class standard for three-phase induction motors, TIS 866, became mandatory on 18 April 2026, and TIS 2134-2565 for room air conditioner energy efficiency on 4 April 2026. That exposure is usually discovered at the port rather than before shipment, so check each line that contains a motor or a packaged cooling unit.

The buyer's duty may already be nil

Three regimes strip duty from imported equipment, and which applies changes the commercial picture. Board of Investment promotion exempts import duty on machinery released through the eMT online system; a Customs Free Zone suspends duty, VAT and excise on machinery entering it; an IEAT Free Zone exempts machinery, equipment, tools and construction materials from duty, VAT and excise outright. Ask whether the buyer is BOI-promoted or zone-based before quoting: if so, an ACFTA Form E may be worth nothing to them.

Container loads and project cargo should discharge at Laem Chabang in Chonburi, the deep-sea gateway; Bangkok Port at Khlong Toei is a river port with vessel-size and throughput limits, suiting smaller domestic lots. Supply is 220/230 V single-phase and 380 V three-phase at 50 Hz, with Type O, the Thai three-pin under TIS 166, the official grounded standard; Type C is ubiquitous and Types A and B are being phased out. Technical regulations and TISI forms are published in Thai, and Customs may require a Thai translation of entry documents. What is covered by way of warranty, parts, installation and training is set by the supply contract and agreed before the proforma invoice is issued.