Promoting Thailand as a Target Destination for World-Class Events (Thailand)

II. Key Summary of the relevant legislations

(i) BOI Notification

Through the BOI Notification, a business of organizing large concerts, sporting events, and international festivals is included as a promoted business in addition to the list of promoted businesses under the BOI Notification No. 9/2565 re: Measures to Promote Investment in Industries that are Important to the Country’s Development dated 8 December 2022. A business of organizing large concerts, sporting events, and international festivals is entitled to B-level incentives, which consist of the following benefits for 3 years from the date of issuance of the investment promotion certificate:

• Tax incentives: Exemption of import duty on machinery; and
• Non-tax incentives: Permission to hire foreigners, including non-skilled workers, skilled workers and experts from abroad to work in Thailand

To obtain a promotion for the abovementioned business from the BOI, the business operator is required to fulfill the conditions as follows:

1. having a plan for operating and organizing a large concert, sporting event, and international festival with the scope of business approved by the BOI, however, this does not include the organization of conferences and product exhibitions as the main event;
2. having a minimum investment capital as determined by the BOI of at least THB 100,000,000 per event, which serves as expenses relating to the management and administration of the large concert, sporting event, and international festival;
3. proposing the event plan and attaching documents or agreements on the bidding or documents presenting the ownership of the right to organize the large concert, sporting event, and international festival within the scope of the promoted business to the BOI for its approval before enjoying the rights and incentives;
4. not being allowed to extend the period for machinery import; and
5. being allowed to use second-hand machinery from foreign countries.

Notably, this investment promotion is available to either Thai or foreign juristic persons.

(ii) DOE Notification

By virtue of Section 61, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Foreigners’ Working Management Emergency Decree B.E. 2560 (2017) and its amendment, the DOE had formerly issued the Notification of the Department of Employment re: Prescription of Work which Are Necessary or Urgent or Ad-Hoc Work dated 14 October 2020 (“DOE’s Former Notification”) to prescribe the list of work which are necessary or urgent or ad-hoc work (“Ad-Hoc Work”) which an expat can perform by simply notifying the DOE without obtaining a work permit. However, the DOE has recently issued the DOE Notification to repeal the DOE’s Former Notification and has also added the following as one type of Ad-Hoc Work:

“(13) Work which is supported by the government authority, as follows:

1. organization of mega event or organization of international festival
2. international musical festival or concert”.

In this connection, it should be noted that the newly added Ad-Hoc Work must be supported by the government authority, such as having obtained a subsidy or having received assistance from the government authority in organizing the event. Also, the duration of such work, from the commencement until its completion, must be within 15 days, however, such duration may be extendable once for another 15 days.

Notably, the scheme under the DOE Notification is applicable to expats who will enter Thailand to perform the prescribed Ad-Hoc Work regardless of whether the BOI promotion is obtained.

(iii) Conclusion

For conducting a business of organizing the organization of a world-class event in Thailand, the eligible investor should be mindful of the available BOI promotion and may consider applying for it so as to be entitled to the tax and non-tax benefits as described above. In addition, the scheme which allows an expat to perform work relating to the organization of mega events or organization of international festivals and international musical festivals or concerts in Thailand with a simple notification could facilitate and reduce some obstacles relating to the relevant personnel, particularly where the relevant foreign staff needs to enter Thailand for the purpose of organizing such event and/or festival.