DBD Opens Consultation on Exempting Five Business Categories from Foreign Business Licensing

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DBD Opens Consultation on Exempting Five Business Categories from Foreign Business Licensing

Introduction

The Department of Business Development (the “DBD”) has published an announcement inviting public comments on the principles of a draft Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Businesses Not Requiring a License for the Operation of Business by Foreigners, B.E. …. (the “Draft Regulation”).

The Draft Regulation would allow foreign nationals to operate five categories of business without obtaining a license under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 (1999) (the “FBA”). All five categories are already supervised by a sector regulator under specific legislation, reflecting the removal of duplicate licensing rather than the liberalization of previously unregulated activity.

Background

Section 9 of the FBA requires the Foreign Business Committee (the “Committee”) to review the restricted business categories under the lists annexed to the FBA at least once a year. Following its reviews for 2024 (B.E. 2567) and 2025 (B.E. 2568), the Committee resolved to propose removing five business activities from the restricted categories. The Committee reasoned that the businesses concerned are already supervised by specific agencies under specific laws, so removing them would reduce duplication in state oversight. It also considered that the exemptions are consistent with economic development and with the readiness of Thai operators to compete; further, because certain of the activities are provided only to affiliated companies, exempting them would reduce costs and facilitate business operations without exposing Thai operators to new competition.

Consultation

The consultation itself reflects a recent procedural change. Section 5 of the Act on Legislative Drafting and Evaluation of Law B.E. 2562 (2019) requires state agencies to conduct consultation and impact analysis before enacting any law, to disclose the results, and to take them into account at every stage of the process; this requirement applies to ministerial regulations by analogy.

On 10 March 2026 (B.E. 2569), the Cabinet approved recommendations of the Law Development Commission extending the minimum consultation period from not less than 15 days to not less than 30 days, and requiring agencies to consult on the principles of a law before it is drafted, in addition to consulting on the drafted text.

The present exercise is therefore a first-stage consultation on principles. The text of the Draft Regulation has not yet been produced, and a further consultation on the drafted provisions is expected to follow.

The consultation period runs from 10 August 2026 to 30 September 2026 (B.E. 2569). Comments may be submitted through the Central Legal System website and the DBD website.

The Five Proposed Categories

1. Businesses related to, supporting, or necessary for securities or derivatives business

A foreign national conducting any of these activities must already be licensed by the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC Office”) to operate a securities business under the securities and exchange law, or a derivatives business under the derivatives law, and must obtain the SEC Office’s approval before commencing the additional activity.

2. Aircraft maintenance services

This covers the maintenance of aircraft, aircraft major components, appliances, and aircraft parts under the air navigation law. The Air Navigation Act B.E. 2497 (1954) (the “ANA”) requires a repair station certificate, issued in three types corresponding respectively to aircraft, aircraft major components, and appliances and parts. The ANA prohibits operating a repair station without such a certificate and requires applicants to meet prescribed qualifications. The certificate is issued by the Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (“CAAT”), which would become the single licensing authority for the activity.

3. Procuring customers to offer financial products of companies within a financial business group

Please see details of explanation in Item 4.

4. Debt collection services provided to companies within a financial business group

For categories 3 and 4, the foreign operator must itself be a company within a financial business group and may provide the relevant services only to other companies within that group. The term “financial business group” follows the Bank of Thailand (“BOT”) notification, which covers a commercial bank together with its parent company, subsidiaries at every tier, and joint ventures, whether domestic or foreign. Both activities constitute a supporting business, and where the group company is itself a commercial bank, they fall within the “other services” framework.

One qualification applies to debt collection: where collection is made from a debtor who is a natural person, the activity constitutes a debt collection business under the Debt Collection Act B.E. 2558 (2015) and must be registered in accordance with the criteria, methods, and conditions prescribed under that Act and its associated Ministerial Regulation.

5. Service business where a state enterprise is the counterparty

This category differs in nature from the others: it is not a new exemption but a correction to an existing one.

The business already appears in the Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Service Businesses Not Requiring a License for Foreigners (No. 3), B.E. 2560 (2017), which was issued when the applicable budget legislation was the Budget Procedure Act B.E. 2502 (1959) (the “2502 BPA”). The Budget Procedure Act B.E. 2561 (2018) (the “2561 BPA”) subsequently narrowed the definition of “state enterprise” by excluding limited companies and public limited companies in which state enterprises hold more than 50 percent of the capital. The transitional provision of the 2561 BPA, however, provides that references to “state enterprise” in pre-existing legislation continue to carry the meaning under the 2502 BPA.

As a result, the term used in the 2017 Ministerial Regulation still bears the older, wider meaning, which is inconsistent with the definition now in force. The DBD proposes to align the reference with the 2561 BPA, together with a transitional provision preserving the rights of foreign nationals already providing services to state enterprises under the former definition before the Draft Regulation takes effect.

Legal Significance

The exemption removes the requirement to obtain the FBL. However, a foreign national or entity relying on it must still obtain the licenses and approvals from the other agencies regulating such activities as follows:

  • SEC Office licensing and approval for the securities-related activities;
  • A CAAT repair station certificate for aircraft maintenance;
  • The BOT financial business group framework for the two financial support services; and
  • Registration under the Debt Collection Act where collection is made from natural persons.

The scope conditions are also narrow and should be read closely. Categories 3 and 4 are available only to a company within a financial business group serving other companies within the same group — a limitation expressly intended to confine the commercial reach of the exemption so that Thai operators are not affected. Category 1 is confined to management, marketing, human resources, and information technology services, and to a defined class of recipients.

For category 5, the practical question runs the other way. Because the definition of “state enterprise” has narrowed, some foreign operators currently serving state-enterprise subsidiaries may fall outside the exemption once the reference is updated. The proposed transitional provision is intended to address this, and its drafting will matter to those affected.

Key Takeaways

  • The DBD is consulting on the principles of a Draft Regulation that would exempt five business categories from FBA licensing. The proposal remains subject to the legislative process and does not yet have legal effect.
  • The proposal aims to reduce regulatory duplication in areas where specific sectoral laws and regulators already apply.
  • Comments are open until 30 September 2026. This is a principles-stage consultation, and a second consultation on the drafted text is expected before the Draft Regulation is finalized.

Author: Panisa Suwanmatajarn, Managing Partner.

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