Legal Consideration and Preparation Guidelines for Thailand in becoming a Contracting Party to the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005: A Substantive Article-by-article Analysis (Articles 1 - 15)

Abstract

Law is one of the vital fundamental elements and essential factors for Thailand to take into consideration, before becoming a contracting state of the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005. This research article poses the main question that the law of Thailand as it is today has been inconsistent with that of the Convention. It is therefore necessary for Thailand, aiming at joining the Convention, to not only have a specific implementation act but also to review and revise relevant laws. Only by this measure that the country will be able to comply with rules and principles laid down in the Convention in a beneficial manner. The study on substantive contents of Article 1 to Article 15 is conducted in this research. It mainly covers an exclusive choice-of-court agreement, jurisdiction following that choice-of-court agreement, and recognition and enforcement of judgment rendered by the chosen court. Though all those rules and principles are of the Convention, they to a certain extent affect the internal law of a contracting state.  

The research outcome corresponds to its assumption, either, subject to the Convention, in a case where Thai court is in the role of a chosen court, in a case where Thai court is to be in the role of a non-chosen court, or in a case in which Thai court is requested to recognise and/or enforce the foreign judgment rendered by the chosen court. Such conclusion leads to article-by-article considerations and analysis on the current Thai legal system, so as to offer substantial ways and operations for legal consideration and preparation guidelines for Thailand in becoming a contracting party to the Convention. Those ways inevitably consist of having a specific implementation act, and more importantly, spread over having a proper review and revision of the relevant laws. Without such operations, the legal obligations resulted from Thailand being a contracting party to the Convention cannot be successfully fulfilled.