February 16, 2023
Introduction Litigation proceedings in Thailand have long been known to be a time-consuming process, and it is typically difficult for the parties to predict what will happen next and when it will happen. In order to expedite the efficiency of judicial administration in Thailand and provide a clearer timeframe of court cases, the Act on the Timeframe of Judicial Proceedings (“Act“) was enacted on 25 October 2022 and has recently become effective on 23 January 2023. To implement the Act, judicial authorities under the Act1 including the Courts of Justice, the Administrative Courts, and the Constitutional Court recently issued their regulations outlining the timeframe of judicial proceedings. We summarize below the high-level information for the relevant timeframe as released by the competent courts. It is worth noting that the Act will apply to both matters that are being processed and ones that will be brought after the Act takes effect. Please refer to the direct announcements of each relevant court for more detailed information. Court of Justice The President of the Supreme Court issued a Judicial Regulation on the Timeframe for Consideration of Litigation Cases of the Court of Justice B.E. 2566 (2023) on 18 January 20232, outlining the timeframe of each step of the proceedings of the Court of Justice (“Judicial Regulation“), and it  applies to all Thai courts of justice including all the specialized courts.3 According to the Judicial Regulation, prospective timeframes of proceedings shall depend on the classification of the types of cases prescribed for each level of the courts.4 1. First Instance Court There are three types of case classification (which are mainly based on the level...