Customs Registration Of Valuables

[tomdfc]

About to make the annual trip back to the UK and have been online to revisit the Thai Consulate Hull website. This website is excellent, and the (visa-related) information is very clear and helpful. However, this time round I had a look at some other available downloads, one in particular “Customs Information for Travellers”, including the following -

· - Inbound passengers should have personal belongings, the value of which should not exceed 10,000 baht.

· - Outbound passengers face duty on items they did not take with them when they left Thailand - and more specifically -

· - If you are departing Thailand with certain items e.g. cameras, video cameras, laptop computers, tape recorders, etc. and you are intended to bring them back in to Thailand you should register these items (as long as they have serial numbers or other unique and permanent markings) with Customs at the departure airport after checking in and receiving a boarding pass. The Customs officials will record the exportation of such personal items which you intend to re-import. All items registered will be allowed duty-free entry when you return to Thailand.

Clearly 10,000 baht is unrealistic (but may still be law). It is however the recommended departure procedure that worries me more. In all my trips in and out over the years, I have never registered anything. At a minimum I always have an expensive laptop. I like to think that such a rule is not designed for the “normal” traveller but I once was stopped by a Dutch customs officer at Schipol who decided to hit me with duty on my laptop (then relatively new but for which i couldn’t prove date and place of purchase). It took a year of battling European bureaucracy to get my 300 euro “fine” back. I presume the same risk applies anywhere including Thailand.

So does anyone out there follow this recommended registration procedure? Conversely, has anyone fallen foul of not having followed the procedure? Just curious. Thanks.

[Dante99]

Never followed it, never had a problem taking a camera and a laptop in and out. If you were taking out a lot of things with the intent to bring them back, you might consider registering them on exit to be sure to avoid duty on return.