More to the point will the Thai's play fair? I read in another thread that theoretically at the end of this year Thailand will have to lift its taxes on the import of alcohol to the member states. So what other goods are included. I'm a big boy 6'2'" and 118 kegs so most of my training/ fitness gear I buy from overseas. Nothing XXL in Thailand is really XXL and for quality boots/ shoes/ trainers forget about it. I don't mind buying online but people that do it regularly will know how prohibitively expensive it can be. Funnily enough most of the gear I am buying and paying to import Nike, Under Armour, Jordan, Adidas is now basically all made in China anyway. So are clothing goods included in the free trade agreement? More importantly will I soon be able to buy all my favourite training gear without paying an arm and a leg overseas, massive postage costs and then copping the double whammy of luxury tax and VAT on top as well. or am I just dreaming??

To my knowledge "free trade" means all goods not specific goods.

Made in china only applies to free trade if what you import is accompanied by a certificate of origin. Basically if importers want to pass the savings along then you'll benefit.

Kindly note CHINA is NOT an Asean member!

But you should be able to buy your goods online from stores in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei...

I recently had some Made in Vietnam t-shirts sent to me in Thailand from the UK. I was hit with an imaginary value assessed by Thai Customs and then taxed at 30% on the imaginary value.

I appealed the Customs Demand quoting specific ASEAN exclusion and provided a 3 page copy of the Law. After 25 days, Thai Customs re-assessed the shipment at zero duty.

My items where sent via the Postal Service. Although a bit of a nightmare process, I wasn't about to be extorted by a bad system.

As pointed out above the ASEAN FTA doesn't include China. Although there are bi-lateral TA's that China are a party too.

Based on previous experience the Thais will make things more difficult and put the prices up.

Kindly note CHINA is NOT an Asean member!

But you should be able to buy your goods online from stores in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei...

Also note china does already have a free trade agreements with thailand

This is all part of APEC (Asia pacific economic cooperation) 22 counties signed to it including Australia New Zealand. It is mainly for big imports and exports to these countries, A main document that is needed is a County of Origin certificate from the country of export. I have a import/export comp in New Zealand that my son runs now, we import things from China, Hong Kong etc, so we know what is needed. I am sure it will not cover personel imports like you are talking about. You would also need to do it through a Thai Import company to clear the goods for you if you are applying tax relief. A lot depends on your invoice cost whether customs will bother with filling out all the documents. Like in New Zealand customs will not bother with personal imports less than $1,000 as the cost to do all documentation is more than any tax's charged.

You can go onto Google APEC for lot of information.

Based on previous experience the Thais will make things more difficult and put the prices up.

Thais cannot put the prices up on things made in Vietnam and other Asean member states. Also, free trade means free trade so items bought in from those countries will attract zero duty. It is the same principle as EU member states.

I would imagine customs will not enjoy seeing the huge influx of cheaper goods ship in from member states. Retailers here will eventually have to learn to compete with online sales from overseas. Might be early days but unlike the EU where everything is pretty expensive everywhere and most share the same currency the Asean is very different.

I can also see local Thai distributors getting a hard time as people simply ship direct from Asean countries cutting out the ridiculous mark up locally.

Its going to be very interesting and very lily good news for savvy shoppers.

Based on previous experience the Thais will make things more difficult and put the prices up.

Thais cannot put the prices up on things made in Vietnam and other Asean member states. Also, free trade means free trade so items bought in from those countries will attract zero duty. It is the same principle as EU member states.

I would imagine customs will not enjoy seeing the huge influx of cheaper goods ship in from member states. Retailers here will eventually have to learn to compete with online sales from overseas. Might be early days but unlike the EU where everything is pretty expensive everywhere and most share the same currency the Asean is very different.

I can also see local Thai distributors getting a hard time as people simply ship direct from Asean countries cutting out the ridiculous mark up locally.

Its going to be very interesting and very lily good news for savvy shoppers.

I dont think what your saying is correct. If you think you can buy a dozen TV sets in Malaysia and just drive them in to Thailand you are mistaken. You will need documents a form d stating "The exporter must obtain a Form D certification from its national government attesting that the good has met the 40% requirement. The Form D must be presented to the customs authority of the importing government to qualify for the CEPT rate. Difficulties have sometimes arisen regarding the evidentiary proof to support the claim, as well as how ASEAN national customs authorities can verify Form D submissions. These difficulties arise because each ASEAN national customs authority interprets and implements the Form D requirements without much co-ordination."

I am no expert but my guess is they're not going to let people just carry things in. Let's say Cambodia has no tax on USA imports. People would be heading to Cambodia buying theses usa products and bringing the goods to Thailand.

This is all part of APEC (Asia pacific economic cooperation) 22 counties signed to it including Australia New Zealand. It is mainly for big imports and exports to these countries, A main document that is needed is a County of Origin certificate from the country of export. I have a import/export comp in New Zealand that my son runs now, we import things from China, Hong Kong etc, so we know what is needed. I am sure it will not cover personel imports like you are talking about. You would also need to do it through a Thai Import company to clear the goods for you if you are applying tax relief. A lot depends on your invoice cost whether customs will bother with filling out all the documents. Like in New Zealand customs will not bother with personal imports less than $1,000 as the cost to do all documentation is more than any tax's charged.

You can go onto Google APEC for lot of information.

This statement ^^ is correct

Didn't the booze lobby get the Thai gov't to put an excise tax on all alcohol products not made in Thailand for protectionism? I was thinking Beer Lao, Bintang and a whole host of other beers would now flow in at the same price as local beers, but I was definitely mistaken. Only beer Lao seems even halfway close to local beers and that's because it's so cheap in Laos!

What goods are covered under the ASEAN free trade agreement.

Made in china only applies to free trade if what you import is accompanied by a certificate of origin. Basically if importers want to pass the savings along then you'll benefit.

Yes it is called Form E.

A helpful link regarding import tariffs into Thailand,worth checking before you accept the valuation of couriers like DHL,whom seem to do the calculation on behalf of the Thai Customs Dept,but don't work by this,I was almost ripped off by them,until I checked the calculator!

http://www.dutycalculator.com

ASEAN and APEC are two entirely different things. Australia is in APEC. Australia is not in ASEAN.

So the AEC means that from next year I can import goods made in Vietnam into Thailand without paying the now existing 20% duty?