Developments of Thai Laws and Laos People’s Democratic Republic’s Laws Concerning the Choice of Jurisdiction and Recognition of Foreign Judgements

Abstract

Section 7 of the Civil Procedure Code (B.E. 2547) which had allowed parties to file complaints with the Court as agreed by the parties and specified in the contract, was revoked in 1991 by the Civil Procedure Code (No. 12). Since then, Thailand, between 1991 and 2017, enacted a number of Acts concerning international carriage and laws relating to civil liability for oil pollution. From the study of four international carriage laws which were enacted during such period, namely, the Multimodal Transport Act B.E. 2548, the International Carriage of Goods by Road B.E. 2556, the International Carriage of Passengers by Road B.E. 2557 and the International Carriage by Air Act B.E. 2558 (including the International Carriage by Air Act (No.2) B.E. 2560), it was found that these laws originated from international conventions and agreements to which Thailand is a party. As a result, a Plaintiff has the option to file a lawsuit with any of the Courts specified by the law concerned, and some laws also recognize agreements made by the parties on the choice of jurisdiction as specified in the transport agreements and agreements on the choice of court made after a claim has arisen, which is a development in Thai law. As for the two laws concerning oil pollution, namely, the Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage Caused by Ships Act B.E. 2560 and Requirement of Contributions to The International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage Caused by Ships Act B.E. 2560, these laws suggest a further development to recognize foreign judgments (but only for damages arising from oil pollution) and reinforce the influence of the dualism theory. However, Thailand has yet to introduce a law with general provisions detailing the documentation and procedures for the recognition of foreign judgments. This seems to be in contrast with the laws of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (“Lao PDR”) which has been influenced by the monism theory. Thailand and Lao PDR jointly signed the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Multimodal Transport and Annex 5 and Annex 10 of the Great Mekong Subregion Cross-Border Transport Agreement (GMS) regarding the cross-border transport of passengers and goods which have force of law in Lao PDR. Regarding laws on oil pollution, Lao PDR do not have any law like the aforesaid two Thai laws concerning oil pollution. However, Lao PDR introduced the new civil procedure law, 2012 which provides for the recognition of foreign judgments, the conditions on recognition, documentation required and procedures. Therefore, the question which requires further study is how Thai law concerning such recognition should develop.