L/6690/Add.1

13 June 1990

Limited Distribution

COUNCIL Original: English

14 June 1990

THAILAND - RATES OF CERTAIN BUSINESS AND EXCISE TAXES

Notification from Thailand

Addendum

The following notification, dated 11 June 1990, has been received from the Permanent Mission of Thailand.

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I refer to paragraph 3 of the Protocol for the Accession of Thailand to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and paragraph 5 of the Decision of 17 June 1987 (L/6190), and wish to notify that the Government of Thailand has taken major steps towards the adoption of value-added tax system at the national level. It is recognized that the proper implementation of such a system will bring about the needed alignment of the rates of the business and excise taxes applied to a number of domestically produced goods with those rates applicable to like imported goods.

The process of introducing a value-added tax system has reached a crucial stage where all Thai authorities concerned have to establish appropriate administrative regulations and procedures and to increase the public awareness to ensure stable transition of the tax systems. The Government is also in the process of adjusting the excise taxes of certain products to bring into line with Article III of the General Agreement.

Giving due regard to the complexity of the present system and the necessary modifications of the administrative regulations and procedures, the Government of Thailand wishes to request for another extension of the Decision for two years until 30 June 1992.

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To facilitate the consideration by the Council of this request, a draft decision prepared by the secretariat is being circulated as C/W/640.