Nov 2010 The Ministry of Finance has announced the exemption of import duty under notification dated on 13 October 2010 (No.18) which became effective from 19 October 2010. According to the notification, the import of certain automotive parts under tariff headings 8413, 8504, 8507, 8536, 8544, and 8708 for assembling or manufacturing Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) which piston displacement not exceeding 3,000 cubic centimeters under heading 8703 is exempted from the payment of duty for a period of 3 years from 19 October 2010.
Eligible importers to claim the above import duty exemption shall be legal entities who carry out their own assembling or manufacturing automotive vehicle or motor vehicle business and shall import the parts as cited above for their own usage only. In addition, the importer has to submit the production formula for each model. Model in this respect means the external cabin appearance, transmission system and capacity of engine.
If the duty exempted imported automotive parts have not been used in the production process within one year from the date of importation, the importer would need to send the remaining parts out of Thailand or pay import duty to Customs. Furthermore, scrap or disposal parts need to be destroyed or exported out of Thailand. If the importer fails to do so, those items will become dutiable.
