Import duties are imposed at a specific rate, an advalorem rate, or at a compound basis. The base of the ad valorem rate is determined by the domestic value (‘true market value’) of the imported good, calculated at the official exchange rate. The true market value of the goods is the wholesale cash price (duties excluded) for which similar goods would be sold and thus the prices actually paid or payable are used. The compound basis is a combination of the two others rates, very Thai and simple: “whichever of both gives the highest amount of duties, will be the rate applied”.
Most of the imported goods are subject to import duties between 5 and 60%, but this percentage may be reduced or even eliminated under a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA). Although AFTA does not apply a common external rate on imported goods – which is, for example, the case for the European Union – the ASEAN countries do apply lower rates if goods are imported out of the one of the member-countries (between zero and 5%) known as the Common Effective Preferential Tariff scheme