cnx_vinyl/docs/boi.md

# BOI Investment Promotion

The project will apply for promotion by the Thailand Board of Investment.
Research snapshot from July 2026, based on the BOI Investment Promotion
Guide 2025/2026 and advisory sources; BOI revises its measures roughly
annually, so every scheme cited here must be reconfirmed at filing time.
The exact activity sub-code needs confirmation by a BOI-registered
consultant before the application.

## The strategic picture

Vinyl pressing is, in BOI terms, basic plastic consumer-goods manufacturing
(Category 6, chemicals/paper/plastics), which lands in **incentive Group B**:
no corporate income tax holiday on the core pressing activity, but the full
non-tax package and machinery duty exemption. The tax value is engineered on
top through the upgrade measures, where this project happens to be strong:

- **Solar and battery**: the alternative-energy measure (Announcement
  2/2568, April 2025, under the Smart and Sustainable Industry framework)
  grants CIT exemption based on the solar investment. Eligible spend
  explicitly includes PV modules, inverters, BESS and BESS inverters, and
  mounting structures, capped at THB 12M/30M/40M of investment value per MW
  depending on investment type. The planned Deye + Gobel installation
  converts directly into CIT-exemption headroom.
- **Automation and metrology**: the Smart and Sustainable Industry upgrade
  measure (Announcement 15/2565, refreshed July 2025) rewards automation,
  smart machinery, and energy efficiency, typically 3 years of CIT
  exemption capped around 50% of the qualifying upgrade investment. The
  automated presses, inline optical inspection, and stamper metrology are
  the natural fit.
- **R&D merit**: investing at least 1% of revenue in Thai R&D adds 1 to 3
  CIT-exemption years and can lift the exemption cap. In-house mastering,
  galvanics process development, and recycled-PVC work could be framed as
  qualifying development.

So the application is pitched on solar, automation, and technology content,
not on "we press plastic discs."

## What Group B still delivers (the core value)

- **Machinery import duty exemption**: significant with the entire equipment
  list imported (Germany, Sweden, USA, Japan)
- **100% foreign ownership** of the promoted manufacturing company,
  overriding Foreign Business Act restrictions for the promoted activity
- **Land ownership** for the promoted operation despite foreign
  shareholding, plus a small allowance for office/residential use; note the
  privilege is tied to the promotion, which matters for the buy-vs-lease
  decision
- **Visas and work permits** via the One Stop Service, without the usual
  four-Thai-employees-per-permit rule; relevant for foreign commissioning
  engineers and the technical consultant
- **Raw material duty relief**: exemption for export production (1 to 5
  years, renewable) and up to 90% reduction for domestic-sale production

## Requirements

- Minimum investment THB 1,000,000 excluding land and working capital
  (comfortably cleared by the first pressing line alone)
- Debt-to-equity ratio no higher than 3:1, maintained for the life of the
  privileges; plan the equity/loan mix for the machinery and solar capex
  accordingly
- Modern machinery and process expected; ISO/environmental compliance for
  larger projects
- BOI promotion does not replace the factory license (Ror.Ngor. 4),
  hazardous substance registration, or wastewater permitting; the galvanics
  effluent is the most likely regulatory friction point regardless of BOI
  status

## Regional angle: Northern Thailand

Chiang Mai, Lamphun, and Lampang sit in the **Northern Economic Corridor**,
which BOI promotes as a creative-economy base; a vinyl/music manufacturing
story fits that narrative. Locating in the **Northern Region Industrial
Estate in Lamphun** simplifies factory licensing and land questions and
provides shared central effluent treatment, which helps the galvanics
permitting. Legacy "Zone 3" incentive tables still found online are
outdated; the current area-based add-ons for Lamphun/Lampang must be
confirmed with BOI directly.

## Process and timeline

1. File via the BOI e-Investment system, then present the project at an
   analyst meeting
2. Decision: about 40 working days for projects under THB 200M (60 to 90
   working days for larger tiers); roughly 4 to 6 months end to end to the
   promotion certificate in practice
3. Incorporate the company (if not yet done) and accept the certificate
4. Import machinery within the duty-exemption window, commonly 30 months
   from certificate issuance (extendable); the Newbilt/Pheenix delivery
   schedule must fit inside it
5. Reach full operation by the certificate deadline (typically about 36
   months), with progress reporting, annual reports, machinery lists, and
   the 3:1 debt-to-equity ratio maintained throughout

## Sequencing consequence

BOI approval comes **before** company incorporation is finalized and before
any machinery purchase orders: duty exemption does not apply retroactively
to equipment already imported, and the certificate defines the import
window. The BOI application is therefore a dependency at the top of the
project timeline, ahead of equipment contracts.

## Open items

- Confirm the exact activity sub-code and tier for vinyl/PVC consumer-goods
  pressing (Group B assumption is well supported but not code-verified)
- Confirm the live versions and per-MW caps of the solar and
  smart-and-sustainable measures at filing time
- Confirm current NEC/Lamphun area add-ons
- Engage a BOI-registered consultant to structure the application so the
  solar, automation, and R&D measures stack on the base promotion
- Keep any future label/content/retail arm in a separate entity: media and
  service activities carry different (and sometimes Thai-ownership)
  conditions, and mixing them muddies a clean manufacturing application