Unpaid invoices in Thailand: two years or five to sue?
Suppliers owed money by a Thai company are often told that invoices more than two years old can no longer be claimed. For goods the buyer took for its own business, that is usually wrong. The two-year period has an exception, and the Supreme Court has applied it to resale, manufacturing and construction alike.
Published 23 September 2026
The two-year rule and its exception
Section 193/34(1) of the Civil and Commercial Code gives a trader, manufacturer, craftsman or artisan two years to claim the price of goods delivered, of work done or of looking after another's business, including money advanced, unless it was done for the debtor's own business. Where the exception applies, the two-year period does not, and section 193/33(5) gives the claim five years instead. The question is therefore not how old the invoice is but what the buyer took the goods for.
What the Supreme Court counts as the debtor's business
The Supreme Court has read the exception broadly. Goods bought to be resold fall within it: judgment 3856/2547, which also rejected the argument that resale without any processing of the goods is not business, and judgment 7385/2548, on a distributor of air-conditioning equipment. So do goods bought for manufacture: in judgment 7115/2544 a paint and ink maker bought chemicals in large quantities, which showed they were for its production rather than internal use. So do goods used in the buyer's work: timber sold to a building contractor in judgment 9197/2551, and cement resold or mixed into ready-mixed concrete in judgment 1343/2551, where the Court added that the test looks at the debtor's business, not at whether the creditor also benefited.
Money the seller advanced for the buyer
Judgment 6198/2548 concerned a seller claiming both the price of goods its Thai buyer had resold and the freight it had paid on the buyer's behalf. The Court held the price subject to five years, and held that the freight, having arisen from the same sale, was money advanced for the debtor's business under the exception in section 193/34(1), not a carrier's advance under section 193/34(3). It too had five years.
Prove the purpose at first instance
The exception depends on a fact, the buyer's purpose, and facts are found at first instance. In judgment 5342/2544 a seller argued five years for the first time before the Supreme Court, and was not heard on it because the point had not been properly raised in the Court of Appeal. In judgment 5755/2538 the trial court had found that the buyer did not buy for its own industry, and the appeal on that finding of fact was barred. In judgment 7115/2544, by contrast, the Supreme Court corrected the lower courts of its own motion, treating their use of two years as a misreading of the law touching public order. The safe course is to plead the buyer's business purpose, with the evidence for it, from the start: the buyer's registered objects, the quantities bought, and what it did with the goods.
Part payments and acknowledgments
Limitation is interrupted under section 193/14 where the debtor acknowledges the debt in writing, pays part of it, pays interest or gives security. The payment has to relate to the debt claimed. In judgment 5342/2544 the courts below held that a transfer the buyer made against other invoices did not acknowledge the debt sued on, and the claim failed on the two-year period. Keeping a clear record of which invoices each payment settles is therefore worth doing while the relationship is still running.
The other periods worth knowing
The five-year period is not the only one a creditor may meet. A loan has ten years under section 193/30, since no special period applies to it. Arrears of interest have five years under section 193/33(1). A claim on a dishonoured cheque against the drawer has one year under section 1002. Which period applies depends on what is actually being claimed, and a single account between two companies can contain claims of more than one kind.
The judgments this rests on
Supreme Court judgment 3856/2547
Goods bought to be resold to the buyer's own customers are bought for the debtor's business; the claim has five years under section 193/33(5), and resale without processing is no answer.
Supreme Court judgment 7385/2548
A distributor's purchases for resale fall within the exception to section 193/34(1); the price claim has five years.
Supreme Court judgment 7115/2544
Chemicals bought in large quantities by a paint and ink manufacturer were for its production, not internal use; five years applied, and the Supreme Court corrected the lower courts of its own motion.
Supreme Court judgment 9197/2551
Timber sold to a building contractor for use in its construction business: five years under section 193/33(5).
Supreme Court judgment 1343/2551
Cement resold or mixed into ready-mixed concrete by the buyer: five years; the test looks at the debtor's business, not at whether the creditor also benefited.
Supreme Court judgment 6198/2548
Both the price of goods the buyer resold and the freight the seller advanced in connection with that sale have five years; the freight is not a carrier's advance under section 193/34(3).
Supreme Court judgment 5342/2544
A five-year argument raised for the first time before the Supreme Court was not considered; a payment against other invoices did not acknowledge the debt sued on.
Questions this raises
We sold machinery to a Thai company for its factory. Two years or five?
Goods bought for use in the buyer's own business fall within the exception to section 193/34(1), so the claim has five years under section 193/33(5). The Supreme Court has applied the exception to goods bought for manufacture (7115/2544) and for construction work (9197/2551).
Does the five-year period also cover freight we paid for the buyer?
Where the freight arose from the sale of goods the buyer took for its business, judgment 6198/2548 held it to be money advanced for the debtor's business, with five years like the price.
What if the buyer is an individual buying for personal use?
Then the exception does not apply, and a trader's claim for the price has two years under section 193/34(1).
The legislation
- Civil and Commercial Code, sections 193/33 and 193/34
- Civil and Commercial Code, sections 193/14 and 193/30
- Civil and Commercial Code, section 1002
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