This article considers the legal changes which must be made to the protection of performers' rights under the Thai Copyright Act (CA) 1994 if Thailand is going to sign the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with the United States or the European Union that would be likely to require Thailand to ratify the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty 1996 (WPPT). It argues that the current provisions of the Thai CA 1994 still fall short of the standard for the protection of performers' rights under the WPPT, the provision of the prospective FTA of the United States and that of the European Union. It recommends that Thailand must improve the provisions on the protection of performers' rights in the current Thai CA 1994 in order to provide better protection for performers' rights in Thailand and make such provisions consistent with the standard of the protection of performers' rights in the WPPT and the prospective FTAs.

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This article considers the legal changes which must be made to the protection of performers' rights under the Thai Copyright Act (CA) 1994 if Thailand is going to sign the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with the United States or the European Union that would be likely to require Thailand to ratify the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty 1996 (WPPT). It argues that the current provisions of the Thai CA 1994 still fall short of the standard for the protection of performers' rights under the WPPT, the provision of the prospective FTA of the United States and that of the European Union. It recommends that Thailand must improve the provisions on the protection of performers' rights in the current Thai CA 1994 in order to provide better protection for performers' rights in Thailand and make such provisions consistent with the standard of the protection of performers' rights in the WPPT and the prospective FTAs.

This article examines the possible changes to the provisions on the protection of new plant varieties under the Plant Variety Protection Act B.E. 2542 (A.D. 1999), or the Thai PVPA 1999, if Thailand chooses to ratify the 1991 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, or the UPOV Convention 1991. It confirms the need to develop the Thai PVPA 1999, given that several ASEAN countries have already ratified the UPOV Convention 1991, making it the new standard for new plant variety protection in the Southeast Asian region. It argues that although the current provisions of the Thai PVPA 1999 appear to meet the minimum standards of protection under the Agreement on Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), they still fall short compared with the UPOV Convention 1991 provisions. This article asserts that to make the provisions of the Thai PVPA 1999 consistent with those of the UPOV Convention 1991, several provisions of the former—such as the scope of breeder's rights, exceptions, and the duration of protection—must be further developed.