What you can't take out of Thailand

Certain restrictions on the export of certain items are imposed by any state. This rule applies to things that from the point of view of the authorities and culture of a given society are of special value. As a rule, such restrictions apply to art objects. However, a tropical Asian country is peculiar in this respect. What cannot be taken out of Thailand?

There is no need to memorize the entire list of prohibited items to take out of Thailand. The main thing is to understand what is fundamentally important and valuable to Thais, what is super-valuable to their culture. There are few such super-valuable dominants, namely:

• the nature of Thailand;
• culture and history of Thailand;
• the property of the kingdom (the king).

Recommended article: rules of conduct and laws of Thailand for tourists

General principles

Thais see the world around them as a god-given wonder. Mountains, sands, trees, above-water life, underwater inhabitants - all these things are of great value to Thais. It is no coincidence that Thailand has so many protected areas and national parks, many of which are "under the personal control of the King". This may be a figure of speech, but this is how they say in this country, where the mention of the king is still sacred. Thus, nothing that has to do with nature can be taken out of Thailand: neither plants, nor animals, nor sand, nor stones.

Anything relating to the culture (religious artifacts) and history (archaeological artifacts) of Thailand is forbidden to be freely exported from the country. Souvenir copies of religious objects or archaeological finds must be accompanied by export documents.

In Thailand, the cult of the monarch thrives and cannot even be spoken of in a negative context. Legally the whole country belongs to the king: it is his property.

On this basis, a claim can be filed against the outbound traveler for any item that the tourist takes out of the country: whether it is a pebble found in a cave on a distant island, a precious stone (not in the product) or a jar of white sand from the nearest beach.

In addition, both bringing into and taking out of Thailand are prohibited items that are restricted or prohibited for civil circulation: weapons, explosive and toxic substances, drugs. But this is something that cannot be done anywhere. Although on this issue in Thailand there are also a couple of specific features. One of them has to do with coconut, but read about that below.

List of things you can't take out of Thailand

Animals and sea creatures

Fish and other inhabitants of the tropical sea, animals and birds that live on land cannot be taken out of Thailand.

Most of them belong to species whose populations are threatened with extinction. For this reason, they are protected by the state.

Stuffed animals and fish

The prohibition list includes not only live animals, but also stuffed animals. Stuffed bats, crocodiles, seahorses, fish, hedgehogs, etc. - are something you can buy everywhere in Thailand, but there may be problems when you leave with these items.

Hides or other animal parts

The ban extends to:

• on animal skins;
• on ivory (the circulation of this material is controlled and limited);
• objects and souvenirs made of ivory;
• on individual large shells (not as part of souvenirs);
• on the corals.

The ban does not apply to finished crocodile leather products: handbags, purses, belts, shoes, etc.

Sand, earth and other rocks

The flow of tourists to Thailand is so great that if everyone came to take with them a piece of the beach or cave (and there are many of them), perhaps, from the white-sand beaches have long been nothing left, and karst islands collapsed from the numerous splinters.

To prevent this from happening, the government imposed a ban on the export of sand, earth, and rock.

Plants

Local flora as well as fauna is considered a national treasure of Thailand. No plants or plant parts, including cuttings, may be taken out of the country.

The fruits of durian and coconut should be mentioned separately. There is no direct ban on taking them out or introducing them. However, airport control services have a practice of preventing the introduction of these fruits on board of aircrafts. Durian because of its peculiar smell. Coconut, because of the cases of heroin in it. Although no one uses this method anymore, the precautions are still in place.

Potted plants

Remember that in the pot with the flower is the holy soil of Thailand. It is strictly forbidden for export. But even if you transport the plant without soil, for example, in a silicone filler, you may still be asked for some kind of permission from the competent authorities.

Buddha statuettes

One often encounters information that there is a set standard for the size of a Buddha image, which supposedly can be taken out, and that statuettes exceeding this standard cannot be taken out. In fact, this is not the case.

From the point of view of Thai law, any Buddha statuettes are not subject to free export from the country, regardless of their size. This is because such statuettes are often stylized to look like the originals, which can be several hundred years old. Naturally, airport employees are not able to distinguish between a copy of a dummy and a monument of historical value.

A general procedure has been established under which a person who wishes to take a statue or statuette of Buddha out of the country must obtain permission from the Department of Fine Arts of Thailand to do so.

Specialists from this agency will conduct an examination of the object and issue a conclusion as to whether it is an object of national patrimony. In most cases, the procedure is of a formal nature. Permits to export souvenir novelties, even if they are very large, are obtained without problems.

In order to do this, the Department needs to provide:

• application;
• 2 photographs of the item to be removed;
• A photocopy of the passport of the person submitting the documents (certified in the embassy of the country of residence);
• the subject matter itself for licensing.

It takes four working days to make this permit. One person is allowed to take out no more than 5 Buddha statues at a time.

Items of archaeological or antique value

Nothing found in ancient Thai ruins can be taken away by a tourist. The same applies to stylized replicas: engraved stones, "ancient" bricks and other reproductions of ancient monuments. The rule described in the previous paragraph applies to copies: they require permission from the Department of Fine Arts or one of the institutions authorized to issue such documents:

• National Museum in Bangkok;
• National Museum in Chiang Mai;
• National Museum in Phuket;
• National Museum in Songkhla.

The documents required and the timeframe for issuing the permit are similar to those for obtaining a license to export Buddha images.

Uncut gemstones

According to Thai regulations, it is forbidden to export unprocessed gemstones. Mainly because they could have been obtained illegally.

Transportation of such jewelry is considered smuggling not only in Thailand but also in any other more or less civilized country.

Concluding remark

Such a large number of restrictions and a complicated licensing procedure for exporting certain items from the country are successfully compensated by the Thai negligence towards the implementation of the laws. Everything described in this article should be considered as some ideal rules that exist on paper and in the minds of some officials.

In practice, tourists often take away both huge Buddha statues and uncut precious stones without any accompanying documents. It is not known how this system will work in a month or a year. We can assume that the trend towards stricter law enforcement will prevail. This means that just in case, one should be aware of the Thai rules of moving certain items across the border.