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[lupusdom]

Hello there,

I hope my question has not been asked before.
I live since quite a while in Thailand and had recently the idea of importing textile products from Thailand to Germany, my homecountry.
As I investigated, it is all possible about the taxes etc., and the manufacturer is actually reliable and delivers good quality BUT
today I got a call from them that it is not possible for them to sell their products to me for export as I would bring them to another
country and products "Made in Thailand" have a lot of special regulations - so that they would need to transform into another
kind of company to allow this.

My question is now - when a thai factory is selling me their products, and I export them and paying all according taxes to the customs,
having all papers etc., I am free to choose whatever manufacturer I like, or not?
As basically it is me exporting and the government gets it fair share at the customs, is there any need for the manufacturer to pay more taxes?

Hope that question is not too stupid & thanks in advance

[JurgenG]

If you have a forwarder call him, he should be able to explain all the documents you need to pass the customs, both in Thailand and in you country of destination.

[lupusdom]

I guess I formulated that wrong - what I want to know if my manufacturer is just confused, or if it is true that he has to pay more taxes when his products are being exported.
As I buy them and export them, paying the taxes and so on there should not be a problem for him, right?
It seems like someone told him that his products are "Made in Thailand" and so he can only produce for export when he pays higher taxes

[raro]

here's your forwarder

In order to import garments in the EU (not only Germany) from  non-EU country, you need to have at least a Certificate of Origin, otherwise the customs authorities do not let the cargo in. This "C/O" you can obtain if you have a registered company in Thailand which is member of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. To safe on import duties, you would need a "Form A", but this can only be issued by the manufacturer and in that case the manufacturer must be the exporter, no middle man allowed.

This is a EU regulation and has nothing to do with Thailand as such.

[lupusdom]

The EU regulations are not the problems, just that the manufacturer (mass production, but having no experience with international markets) seems to believe that he would get a lot more problems and taxes if his products are being exported -
as far as I see it, that would be my problems as the exporter.
And yes, typical forwarder

Thanks so far

[raro]

there is no disadvantage for him whatsoever if he exports his goods. The only thing I could think of is that he is worried about the VAT refund which indeed might take some time.

[lupusdom]

So, I checked now forth and back -
what they want to tell me is that any product that has the label "Made in Thailand" on/in it must be produced by factories
that are certified for export, thus being in another tax category than one that produces solely for the domestic market.
If these products would be exported, the customs would check back to the factory and eventually that would cause
heavy fines, closure etc.

Can anybody confirm this?

[tombkk]

lupusdom, on 2011-12-21 12:21:45, said:

So, I checked now forth and back -
what they want to tell me is that any product that has the label "Made in Thailand" on/in it must be produced by factories
that are certified for export, thus being in another tax category than one that produces solely for the domestic market.
If these products would be exported, the customs would check back to the factory and eventually that would cause
heavy fines, closure etc.

Can anybody confirm this?

Never heard of this and doubt that this is true.

Who is the exporter-of-record, your company (as you buy from them domestically and then export by yourself), or they (as you buy FOB)? If you buy domestically, they should be concerned at all what you do afterwards, but if you buy FOB, they will have to declare a value to customs, and they will have to declare the same value to the revenue department... That's why they would be more concerned about higher taxes.

[CWMcMurray]

The only thing I can think of is that they may not be operating above board and in accordance with Thai revenue department regulations...

- One possibility is that they may not be registered with vat...

- Another may be that they are doing something else to "mis-declare" their revenue or profit with revenue department

In either of the above cases, they are afraid that Big Brother may find out and are trying to remain below the radar...

There are many many above board textile manufactures in Thailand, I would recommend finding a new supplier