Adopting a "Custom Quick Big Win" policy to modernize the organization, enhance its prestige, and foster elegance.

"My goal is to push the Customs Department to be more than just a trade facilitator; I want it to be a driver of trade. Because if trade can occur easily, the economy will improve. My slogan is: Customs drives the Thai economy, caring for society."

The Customs Department has a long history of 151 years and has continuously adapted its organizational role. Initially, its primary role was revenue collection, but later it expanded to include good governance, or the prevention and suppression of customs offenses.

Currently, under the leadership of... Panthong Loykulnan, Director-General of the Customs Department. The 43rd person to take office on October 24, 2568, gave an exclusive interview. bank finance He stated that his intention in taking this position is to transform the role of the Customs Department to align with that of developed countries, thereby pushing the Customs Department to become a trade enabler.

"My goal is to push the Customs Department to be more than just a trade facilitator; I want it to be a driver of trade. Because if trade can be facilitated easily, the economy will improve. My slogan is: Customs drives the Thai economy, caring for society."

Move forward with the policy.
Custom Quick Big Win

Panthong stated that the Customs Department is a long-established organization playing a crucial role in the country's economic system in two areas:

1. Economic aspect Its function is to drive trade through the use of customs measures and to oversee imports, exports, and international trade.

"The Customs Department oversees international trade worth up to 22 trillion baht annually, with 13 million containers passing through each year, not including the more than 100 million boxes of goods annually. This shows that we are a crucial agency in driving the economy through imports and exports."

In addition to driving trade, the government is also a key revenue collector, generating approximately 600 billion baht annually in taxes. This includes 120 billion baht in duties and 370 billion baht in Value Added Tax (VAT), with an additional 100 billion baht collected on behalf of other agencies. This 600 billion baht represents 20%, or one-fifth, of Thailand's total revenue of 3 trillion baht.

2. Social aspects It means acting as a gatekeeper, monitoring goods entering and leaving the country to protect society from illegal goods.

Panthong further stated that, based on the aforementioned role, after assuming the position on October 24, 2025, he announced the implementation of the Custom Quick Big Win policy, carried out under three main roles as follows:

1. 1. Trade Enabler The Customs Department will utilize customs measures to stimulate trade, focusing on driving economic growth through these measures. This includes promoting and encouraging trade by accelerating the improvement of regulations that hinder import and export, upgrading inspection processes to international standards to reduce the burden on legitimate businesses, and expediting the refund of taxes, deposits, and compensation to increase liquidity for the business sector.
   2. Social Protector Protecting society from illegal goods, the Customs Department will proactively take measures to prevent and suppress illegal goods, especially dumped goods, goods with counterfeit origins, and substandard products.
   3. Revenue Collector To ensure fair revenue collection for the state, the Customs Department will adjust its approach to tax collection, shifting from a focus solely on duties to the comprehensive collection of all types of taxes. Simultaneously, it will increase the stringency of inspections on duty-exempt goods that are still subject to VAT, and consider abolishing the minimum value requirement (D-minimum value) to create fairness for businesses and ensure a stable increase in government revenue.

“The Customs Department’s goal is to encourage more trade. I started by changing the mindset of customs personnel, emphasizing that they shouldn’t view trade as inherently rife with corruption. We must adhere to the principle that we must first facilitate trade, and only then should we address the corruption.”

Activate emergency measures.
It actually happened in 4 months.

Panthong stated that the measures implemented by the Customs Department under the Custom Quick Big Win policy, which aims to be achieved within 4 months, include:

1. Economic aspects

• • Electronic transmission (E-manifest) This measure, which has been in effect since December 1, 2568, aims to simplify cargo transshipment at Laem Chabang Port by transitioning from manual declarations and documents to a fully electronic system.

“The origin of this project stems from our observation that typical transshipment at various ports doesn't directly bring goods into the country, and involves complicated procedures and customs declarations. Therefore, we decided to implement an electronic system to simplify and automate the process, thereby enhancing trade convenience.”

• • Reforming the regulations regarding reward money for arrests. The proposal suggests abolishing the reward system for high-ranking Customs officials (level 9 and above), including the Director-General, citing a conflict of interest. This issue has also been raised by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the United States, as the current reward payments amount to hundreds of millions of baht per year.

“This issue has been unresolved for over 100 years, dating back to 2469, causing a conflict of interest because senior executives could order cases and receive a share of the reward money themselves. Therefore, I have proposed a new reward regulation to the Ministry. Senior executives, including myself, who receive the largest share of this money, will no longer receive rewards for informants. I promise the community that this will definitely be achieved. We expect it to begin in January 2569.”

• • This makes the Lat Krabang area capable of exporting. In the past, there may have been certain limitations that made it impossible or less convenient to do so. The goal is to transform this area into a function similar to an inland port to facilitate business operations.
  • Imposing taxes on imported goods valued at less than 1,500 baht. This policy aims to create fair trade between domestic and foreign goods and help SMEs compete. The measure will begin on January 1, 2569. It is expected to increase tax revenue by at least 3,000 billion baht per year, based on the 30,000 billion baht in the previous year if an average 10% tax were collected on goods valued at less than 1,500 baht entering the country.

"Currently, no one benefits from directly importing cheap goods to consumers. Therefore, we will collect import duties starting from the first baht. This policy is designed to help create fairness for domestic businesses and benefit Thailand."

The Customs Department has signed cooperation agreements with major international e-commerce platforms to exchange data. This will provide the Customs Department with information on the quantity and prices of goods entering the country, while the signed platforms will benefit from faster service.

"What the platform will gain is faster service. For example, if goods arrive but there's no information for the customs department, the inspection process might take longer. Regarding fairness, in addition to the higher costs for foreign businesses, there's also the issue of faster delivery. Buying from domestic businesses might result in faster delivery."

2. Social aspects There will be stricter crackdowns on illegal goods, focusing on doing more with less effort. This will involve using technology and data analysis to efficiently conduct random inspections of shipping containers, rather than haphazardly conducting random checks.

"With the enormous volume of goods—over 13 million containers per year—we cannot inspect every single one. Therefore, we will use technology and data to conduct random inspections, linking information with other relevant agencies to achieve tangible results in suppression efforts."

The Customs Department has categorized illegal goods into four main areas to ensure comprehensive suppression, namely:

1. 1. The government's policy heavily emphasizes drug-related offenses, even though Thailand is not a drug producer, as it is used as a major transit route due to its conducive transportation ecosystem, including e-cigarettes which are harmful to youth.
   2. These are harmful to the environment, such as e-waste and products that violate the CITES treaty concerning plants and wildlife.
   3. This is harmful to consumers, such as products that do not meet Thai Industrial Standards (TIS) or are not certified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
   4. These are economic offenses, such as goods with understated prices to evade taxes, tax evasion, and dumped goods.

"These are all measures I will implement in the next four months. The focus will be on doing things quickly, efficiently, and achieving significant results through diversification and a broad perspective. This aligns with the 'Custom Quick Big Win' policy, and I am confident that you will see results in all of them within four months."

Upgrade the Customs Department.
Modern, dignified, elegant.

Panthong stated that in addition to short-term measures, the long-term intention is to further enhance the organization's image, portraying it as a modern entity. Having been a long-time employee of the Customs Department for over 20 years, he has the advantage of not needing to learn new tasks, having been involved in Customs work for almost his entire life. Furthermore, in terms of personnel management, being an insider allows him to understand the work and determine who is best suited to perform it, enabling him to delegate tasks correctly.

"As a long-time member of the Customs Department, having worked here for over 20 years, I want to see the Customs Department become a modern, dignified, and prestigious organization, befitting its role in overseeing international trade worth 22 trillion baht. My principle is to be firm and true to my word. I believe that if we become Directors-General, we must act immediately, no matter how much time we have, to avoid future regrets."

Furthermore, in the long term, there is also a need to transform the Customs Department's system, such as expanding the National Single Window system, which is the government platform with the largest number of transactions, up to 120 million per year, and connects 35 government agencies.

The goal is to expand the National Single Window system into a true Single Window Ecosystem, transforming all documents into electronic (paperless) and supporting electronic payments (e-payment).

“The Single Windows Ecosystem will truly facilitate the import and export of goods. I intend to push for its realization, requiring a 100% system integration during my time as Director-General.”

While the measures will be reviewed and trade barriers reduced through the decreasing of goods requiring permits—currently 9,400 out of 21,000 tariff codes require permits from other regulatory agencies—in order to reduce obstacles to becoming a trade hub.

Panthong further stated that, in terms of revenue collection for the fiscal year 2569, the target is set at 122,600 million baht. However, currently, the Customs Department faces challenges in revenue collection due to the changing trade structure and the weak global economic growth, which directly impacts the volume of imports and exports.

Furthermore, there are impacts from Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). In the past, the Customs Department levied high taxes on many types of goods, but now many products have zero tariffs due to FTA agreements. A clear example is electric vehicles from China, which are currently exempt from import duties.

“Currently, we collect customs duties on only a few types of imported goods because we have already signed FTAs ​​with other countries. The Customs Department primarily collects revenue from only five product groups: automobiles, automotive parts, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and women's handbags. If these business sectors slow down, it will affect overall revenue.”

However, the Customs Department has implemented measures to improve revenue collection efficiency. Collecting customs duties on imported goods starting from the first baht will contribute to increasing revenue for the Customs Department. At the same time, they will intensify checks on scrutiny of benefits in Free Zones to ensure that the 40% domestic value-added generated is genuinely achieved as stipulated, rather than merely being used to evade taxes.

Follow and read other columns in the January 2569 Bank Finance Journal, Issue 525, in digital format: https://goo.gl/U6OnIi

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