UNIS/L/374
1 April 2025

Thailand accedes to the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts

VIENNA, 1 April (UN Information Service) – Thailand has acceded to the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (2005) (the “Electronic Communications Convention”). The deposit of the instrument of accession took place at a ceremony on the sidelines of the sixty-eighth session of UNCITRAL Working Group IV, which developed the text of the convention and is currently focused on developing default rules for data provision contracts. With its accession to the Electronic Communications Convention, Thailand becomes the nineteenth State party to the Convention. It will enter into force for Thailand on 1 October 2025.

Thailand made a declaration that, in accordance with article 19, paragraph 2 of the Convention, the Convention shall not apply to communications or transactions specifically excluded under Section 3 of the Electronic Transactions Act B.E. 2544 (2001) of Thailand; contracts to which at least one of the parties is a Thai state agency; and transactions which are required to be registered with a competent authority under Thai law.

The Electronic Communications Convention aims to enhance legal certainty and commercial predictability where electronic communications are used in international contracts. For instance, it provides criteria for establishing functional equivalence between electronic communications and paper documents with respect to legal requirements such as "writing", "original" and "signature", building upon legal principles and provisions contained in other UNCITRAL texts on electronic commerce, such as the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce, already adopted in some 170 jurisdictions across 87 countries. The Electronic Communications Convention, which contributes to an enabling legal framework for end-to-end trade digitalisation, is also increasingly referenced in digital economy agreements and electronic commerce chapters of trade agreements.

Further information about the Electronic Communications Convention is available on the UNCITRAL website: https://uncitral.un.org/en/texts/ecommerce/conventions/electronic_communications.

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The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. Its mandate is to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing trade law. It prepares legal texts in a number of key areas such as international commercial dispute settlement, electronic commerce, insolvency, international payments, sale of goods, transport law, procurement and infrastructure development. 

UNCITRAL also provides technical assistance to law reform activities, including assisting Member States to review and assess their law reform needs and to draft the legislation required to implement UNCITRAL texts. The UNCITRAL secretariat is located in Vienna, Austria. For more information, visit: uncitral.un.org.

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For information, please contact:

Neale Bergman
Senior Legal Officer
UNCITRAL secretariat
Email: neale.bergman[at]un.org