G/TBT/W/638  
 
9 April 2019 
(19-2263) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
THAILAND - NEW CERTI FICATION REQUIREMENT S UNDER THE THAI MIN ISTRY  
OF FINANCE'S MINISTE RIAL NOTIFICATION ON  IMPORTATION  
OF SPIRITS INTO THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND (B.E 2560)  
STATEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS T O TRADE  
6 AND 7  MARCH  2019 
The following communication, dated 5 April  2019, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of the European Union . 
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1.  The European Union welcomes the notification by the Thai authorities, on 15 November 2018, of 
the Ministerial Regulation entitled "Liquor Importation Permission " (B.E. 2560 (2017)), and is 
currently examining the Regulation in detail, with a view to provide comments. The European Union 
notes that the Regulation entered into force on 16 September 2018.  
2.  The European Union  would like to reiterate its previous concerns  with regard  to certain elements 
in the Thai requirement to provide a Certificate of Analysis for the marketing of fermented1 and 
distilled2 alcoholic beverages (wines, spirits or  beer). While sharing with Thailand the importan t 
objective of ensuring the protection of public health, the E uropean Union notes that the testing 
criteria and methods foreseen for the issuing of the Certificate of Analysis raise concerns as to their 
possible undue impacts on trade in alcoholic beverages.  
3.  The E uropean Union appreciates that the grace period for submitting samples or Certificates of 
Analysis within 30 days from importation  has been extended from  14 September 2018  to 14 March 
2019. In additi on, the European Union welcomes the adoption, on 22 March 2018, of implementing 
guidelines on the submission of alcohol beverages samples for quality compliance testing as part of 
the import license application.  
4.  Furthermore , the European Union  appreciates  the openness of the Thai Excise Department to 
address remaining concerns  through  discussion s held in  June 2018 with the EU Delegation in 
Bangkok, as well as through the consultation, in October 2018, on the draft forms of Certificate of 
Analysis for disti lled and fermented spirits, to which the European Union provided comments.  
5.  As specific concerns on the measure, the European Union considers that some of the  analytical 
requirement s are un clear (for instance, fusel oil or ferrocyanide), while many others,  such as ethyl 
carbamate or iron,  are not applicable to wines under OIV international standards since there is no 
scientific evide nce justifying their regulation.  
6.  In addition, s ome of the proposed limits would represent a trade barrier for EU wines. For 
example, the limits on aldehyde proposed by the Thai authorities would prevent the imports of 
Sherry. The limits on sulfites may prevent the imports o f exceptionally sweet wines  such as 
Sauternes, Tokaj and Passito . Furthermore, t he methods of analysis are diverging from international 
OIV on es, which  may lead to testing errors, to the detriment of food business operators. These strict 
requirements appear not proportionate when compared to EU requirements for imports of wines.  We 
                                                
1 TIS 2089 -2544 for wines, TIS 2090 -2544 for beer.  
2 TIS 2088 -2544 for distilled spirits.  G/TBT/W/638  
 
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  would appreciate if Thailand could provide detailed scientific justifications for the limits of the 
regulated substances that are more restrictive than the relevant international standards.  
7.  The European Union understands that the intra -agency consultations held by the Excise 
Departme nt with a view to set its own standards for alcoholic beverages have been concluded. 
According to our information, the Excise Department is preparing to amend Ministerial Regulation 
B.E. 2560 from 2017 and to issue a Notification introducing the new set of  standards. In this regard, 
the European Union would like to invite Thailand to notify the draft Regulation and the new set of 
standards to the WTO TBT Committee in a manner that allows reasonable time for other WTO 
members to comment.  
8.  In addition, we wou ld like to kindly request the extension of the grace period giving more 
flexibility in the submission of alcohols samples or certificates of analysis beyond 19 March 2019. 
This would allow proper public consultation with a view to gather wider public opini ons on the new 
set of standards and potential changes in the certification procedures to take place. The European 
Union remains available to work with Thailand on the review of the  Thai standards, including through 
discussions at expert level on the regula ted substances and the methods of analysis , in order to 
address the differences between the standards of the Excise Department and internationally 
accepted practices.   
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