The Philippines brought several claims against Thailand under GATT 1994 concerning fiscal and customs measures affecting the importation of cigarettes. The disputed measures included customs valuation practices, excise tax, health tax, TV tax, VAT regime, retail licensing requirements and import guarantees imposed upon cigarette importers. Among other things, the WTO Panel report concluded that Thailand acted inconsistently with the GATT 1994 by subjecting imported cigarettes to VAT liability in excess of that applied to domestic cigarettes and in other ways treating imported cigarettes less favorably than like domestic cigarettes.
Philippines v. Thailand, “Panel Report, Thailand – Customs and Fiscal Measures on Cigarettes from the Philippines, WT/DS371/R, circulated to WTO Members 15 November 2010.
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"With respect to the Philippines' claims under the GATT 1994, we conclude that:
(a) regarding the determination of the MRSPs for VAT on imported cigarettes, Thailand acted inconsistently with Article III:2, first sentence by subjecting imported cigarettes to a VAT liability in excess of that applied to like domestic cigarettes with respect to the MRSPs for the December 2005 MRSP Notice, the September 2006 MRSP Notice, the March 2007 MRSP Notice, and the August 2007 MRSP Notice;
(b) regarding the VAT exemption for domestic cigarette resellers, Thailand acted inconsistently with Article III:2, first sentence by subjecting imported cigarettes to a VAT liability in excess of that applied to like domestic cigarettes by granting the exemption from the VAT liability only to domestic cigarettes resellers; and
(c) regarding the VAT exemption for domestic cigarette resellers, Thailand acted inconsistently with Article III:4 by subjecting imported cigarettes to less favourable treatment compared to like domestic cigarettes by imposing additional administrative
requirements, connected to VAT liabilities, on imported cigarette resellers."
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
The Philippines brought several claims against Thailand under GATT 1994 concerning fiscal and customs measures affecting the importation of cigarettes. The disputed measures included customs valuation practices, excise tax, health tax, TV tax, VAT regime, retail licensing requirements and import guarantees imposed upon cigarette importers. Among other things, the WTO Panel report concluded that Thailand acted inconsistently with the GATT 1994 by subjecting imported cigarettes to VAT liability in excess of that applied to domestic cigarettes and in other ways treating imported cigarettes less favorably than like domestic cigarettes.