Thai court fines Philip Morris $40 million for customs breach

By Panarat Thepgumpanat

 

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai court fined the local unit of Philip Morris (PM.N) 1.2 billion baht ($40 million) for customs violations on cigarette imports on Friday, while dropping criminal charges against seven of its employees.

 

The Thai public prosecutor filed charges in 2016 against Philip Morris Thailand and seven of its Thai employees, alleging under-reporting of the value of more than 270 entries of imported cigarettes from the Philippines between 2003 and 2006 which led to a revenue losses of more than 306 million baht.

 

“I’m very happy for the employees that were completely acquitted in this case,” said Gerald Margolis, branch manager of Philip Morris Thailand.

 

“However, we strongly but respectfully disagree with this decision and we’ll promptly appeal,” he said, adding that the company has complied with local laws and World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

 

The Philippines went to the WTO in 2008 to complain that Thailand was illegally discriminating against imports to protect its state-controlled Thailand Tobacco Monopoly.

 

A 2010 WTO said that Thailand had no grounds to reject the import price of cigarettes from the Philippines.

 

The Philippines has said that a series of domestic taxation and customs valuations by Thailand that started in 2006 undermined the competitiveness of its cigarettes against those produced by the state-controlled Thailand Tobacco Monopoly.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-29

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best of luck with that, same with the wine, all they produce here is cats <deleted>, and got the nerve to call it wine, its that old monopoly thingy. ha ha (deleted,) maybe urine is better, dam slowflakes,

Just say your leaving Thailand and taking the Thai jobs with you

12 hours ago, mercman24 said:

best of luck with that, same with the wine, all they produce here is cats <deleted>, and got the nerve to call it wine, its that old monopoly thingy. ha ha (deleted,) maybe urine is better, dam slowflakes,

The goverment make wine too ?

14 hours ago, mercman24 said:

best of luck with that, same with the wine, all they produce here is cats <deleted>, and got the nerve to call it wine, its that old monopoly thingy. ha ha (deleted,) maybe urine is better, dam slowflakes,

Agree about Thai wine—definitely not worth protecting.

And on a more spirited note, we have found Chilean wines a good price/quality.  The bi-lateral trade agreement with Chile/Thailand, in combination with the recent drop in the Real—allow for a pretty good wine for good price.

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

A 2010 WTO said that Thailand had no grounds to reject the import price of cigarettes from the Philippines.

https://seatca.org/philippines-optimistic-on-winning-cigarette-case-against-thailand-010511/

• The WTO ruled in favor of the Philippines saying that Thailand acted inconsistently with the WTO rules in valuing Philippine cigarette exports for customs purposes and failing to treat imported cigarettes the same way as locally manufactured cigarettes.

https://www.bworldonline.com/thailand-appeals-wto-ruling-over-cigarette-imports/

• In 2013, the Philippines complained Thailand’s failure to comply with the recommendations of the WTO, which Thailand said in 2014 it already accomplished. The issue was elevated to the WTO dispute panel, which eventually found Thailand did not comply with the ruling.
• Thailand then filed an appeal only last January 2019.

So why is a Thai court even involved in fining Philip?

Furthermore, if the WTO appeal rules in favor of Philip (and I believe it will), then the Thai court's ruling is discredited (ie., as a political decision) and Thailand faces censure from WTO. That could damage the nation's reputation as a dependable trade partner under WTO rules.

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

So why is a Thai court even involved in fining Philip?

Furthermore, if the WTO appeal rules in favor of Philip (and I believe it will), then the Thai court's ruling is discredited (ie., as a political decision) and Thailand faces censure from WTO. That could damage the nation's reputation as a dependable trade partner under WTO rules.

Because Thailand has to try to stand up to scrutiny and justify their protectionism of Thai products, monopolies & families, so they do so by counter suing.

Fair trade is something that Thailand does not adhere too, taxing imports in many ways to prevent competition from other products.

The WTO, EU, USA markets have long known this is going on but as yet have not stung Thailand in retaliation.

 

17 hours ago, mercman24 said:

best of luck with that, same with the wine, all they produce here is cats <deleted>, and got the nerve to call it wine, its that old monopoly thingy. ha ha (deleted,) maybe urine is better, dam slowflakes,

I really can't say anything about customs regulations, as I am ignorant of such laws and regulations, but I entirely disagree with you regarding the quality of wines produced in Thailand. Some of them are absolutely superb (unfortunately, rather expensive).

3 hours ago, Isaan sailor said:

Agree about Thai wine—definitely not worth protecting.

And on a more spirited note, we have found Chilean wines a good price/quality.  The bi-lateral trade agreement with Chile/Thailand, in combination with the recent drop in the Real—allow for a pretty good wine for good price.

Where do you buy Chilean wine and how much?

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The Philippines went to the WTO in 2008 to complain that Thailand was illegally discriminating against imports to protect its state-controlled Thailand Tobacco Monopoly.

 

Another sharp lesson to potential foreign investors and traders. Even with a WTO decision going against them they still try any dirty trick in their book when things don't go their way. Foreign investors are still effectively dealing with a military junta government and are playing with fire when dealing with Thailand.

A similar case to Hopewell. Thailand and the junta is not to be trusted as Kingsgate found out.

Cigarette tax was changed & Thailand can do that no matter whatever the WTO says.

What do you think ????? WTO controls world trade ???. About as effective as the UN

ASEAN is a toothless tiger as all countries still want their taxes.

The Company in this case is using this as an excuse & thought they would get away with it.

6 hours ago, Srikcir said:

more, if the WTO appeal rules in favor of Philip (and I believe it will), then the Thai court's ruling is discredited (ie., as a political decision) and Thailand faces censure from WTO. That could damage the nation's reputation as a dependable trade partner under WTO rules.

now a bigger case at court in singapore  under the FTA

case ; 100 bio thb+++

Akara Ltd  Thailand  ( mayor owner kingsgate)

Thailand played on time and lost , even trough they tryed an takeover ( funny monkeys) with a seychelles company POC (owned by suspicious people relates to the goverment).the joke of the year 2018...they was getting 0 shares in their suspicous offer????

 

...i cant await the coutcome , and i am sure that they , the singapore court ,rule against thailand.

 

Somebody's going to get a nice little kickback!

22 hours ago, mercman24 said:

best of luck with that, same with the wine, all they produce here is cats <deleted>, and got the nerve to call it wine, its that old monopoly thingy. ha ha (deleted,) maybe urine is better, dam slowflakes,

Dam snowflakes? Where I live there are special fences erected in fields to catch the snow

and enable it to form a drift away from roads or railways. I had no idea that was called dammimg!

 

Wine anywhere is an over rated indulgence, it's ok,but if I didn't like the cheap stuff, or

couldn't afford the imported plonk, then I would just drink something else.

 

 

 

Oops sorry you said dam slowflakes, I believe that is something entirely different.

chilean wine £5 in philippines or $6 fab i drink it every day on the up here for sure not like it was over 10 years ago .

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Because Thailand has to try to stand up to scrutiny and justify their protectionism of Thai products, monopolies & families, so they do so by counter suing.

Fair trade is something that Thailand does not adhere too, taxing imports in many ways to prevent competition from other products.

The WTO, EU, USA markets have long known this is going on but as yet have not stung Thailand in retaliation.

 

What is the difference between what Thailand is doing and what the USA is doing in respect

to Scotch whisky and other products exported from, primarily the UK. I believe this in protest

to that the USA claims Airbus being state sponsored, or something along those lines?

 

Surely an independent nation can charge whatever import tarrifs it likes for any product.

9 minutes ago, aspenbkk said:

chilean wine £5 in philippines or $6 fab i drink it every day on the up here for sure not like it was over 10 years ago .

Can get one or two in big C 299 baht

1 hour ago, shy coconut said:

Surely an independent nation can charge whatever import tarrifs it likes for any product.

Not if they are stated & included on a free market trade agreement!

5 hours ago, shy coconut said:

Surely an independent nation can charge whatever import tarrifs it likes for any product.

Not under WTO rules and 90%+ of world nations are members.

The USA under Trump has typically used the "national security" excuse allowed under WTO as an exclusion to use retribution tariffs. WTO has anti-dumping rules that allows a nation to apply tariffs to halt such practice.

The problem arises when a member nation like Thailand blatantly violates WTO rules with a made-up unqualified fine (really just a disguised tariff) and ignores WTO formal review that finds against Thailand for its actions.

A free trade agreement (which does not apply in this instance) can deviate from, contract or expand WTO rules. But a FTA requires legally binding ratification between nation participants in an FTA and typically provides remedy for trade disputes through binding arbitration that cannot be challenged through a nation's judicial system.

11 hours ago, abrahamzvi said:

I really can't say anything about customs regulations, as I am ignorant of such laws and regulations, but I entirely disagree with you regarding the quality of wines produced in Thailand. Some of them are absolutely superb (unfortunately, rather expensive).

Please give examples (links). Honestly, I would prefer to drink (seriously good) local wines, rather than imported wines, even at a premium price - but (IME) Thai wines do not come up to standard.

Please change my mind.

I would not trade my PM stock for any stock on the SET.  Thailand is fairly bad about (not) playing fair, must be in their Chinese blood.

6 hours ago, aspenbkk said:

chilean wine £5 in philippines or $6 fab i drink it every day on the up here for sure not like it was over 10 years ago .

3-4 USD per bottle of Chilean in the US..I prefer the Oz stuff.

23 hours ago, Changoverandout said:

Where do you buy Chilean wine and how much?

You can find Chilean red wines at most Topps Markets, often labelled “Joy”.  Can sometimes find them at Big C.

We had bought the “Joy” brand for 595 Baht.  When I saw the new lower price—295 Baht—I cleaned out their stock.  Verified new price with the girl in the booze section.  One of the few values in an overpriced country.