The Department of Intellectual Property held an annual destruction ceremony of intellectual property infringing goods on 31 August 2023 at the Army Air Defense Command. The participants in the destruction ceremony to witness the destruction of infringing products included the representatives from the Internal Security Operations Command, the Royal Thai Police, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Customs Department, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), the Public Relations Department, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission, and the private sector. Many representatives of brand owners were invited to attend the destruction ceremony.

There were 1,253,529 items of infringing goods (including clothing, bags, watches, cosmetics, auto parts, etc.) being destroyed in this ceremony, which were infringing goods from the final cases rendered by the courts which were seized during raid actions by police and DSI officials, and Customs interceptions at various Customs ports by Customs officials. The total value of the infringing goods was more than 600 million Baht (around 17 million USD).

In addition to the annual destruction ceremony, on 21 September 2023, the Customs Department held a destruction ceremony for infringing goods from the final cases at the Customs Department.

These destruction ceremonies demonstrate the continued effort of the Thai government in taking serious action against intellectual property infringing goods from the Thai market to protect the consumers from unsafe and poor-quality goods, and the efforts to step away from the United States Trade Representatives’ (USTR) Watch List. The destruction ceremonies should create awareness, and have the effect of deterring persons from getting involved in intellectual property infringing activities and infringing goods.