{"id":"F2002B00241","name":"International Transfer of Prisoners (Thailand) Regulations 2002","slug":"international-transfer-of-prisoners-thailand-regulations-2002","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"240 of 2002","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":436542,"registerId":"F2002B00241-fast-fetch-1775953706542","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"International Transfer of Prisoners (Thailand) Regulations 2002","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\nmeta-generator: Aspose.Words for .NET 22.10.0\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![](image.001.png)\n\nInternational Transfer of Prisoners (Thailand) Regulations 2002\n\nStatutory Rules 2002 No. 2401\n\nI, PETER JOHN HOLLINGWORTH, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, make the following Regulations under the International Transfer of Prisoners Act 1997.\n\nDated 3 October 2002\n\nPETER HOLLINGWORTH\n\nGovernor-General\n\nBy His Excellency’s Command\n\nCHRISTOPHER MARTIN ELLISON\n\nMinister for Justice and Customs\n\nContents\n\n 1 Name of Regulations \n\n 2 Commencement \n\n 3 Definitions \n\n 4 Declaration of Thailand as a transfer country \n\n 5 Application of the Act \n\nSchedule 1 Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand on the Transfer of Offenders and Co‑operation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentences             \n\n \n\n \n\n1 Name of Regulations\n\n  These Regulations are the International Transfer of Prisoners (Thailand) Regulations 2002.\n\n2 Commencement\n\n  These Regulations commence on gazettal.\n\n3 Definitions\n\nAct means the International Transfer of Prisoners Act 1997.\n\nAgreement means the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand on the Transfer of Offenders and Co-operation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentences, done at Hanoi on 26 July 2001, a copy of the English text of which is set out in Schedule 1.\n\n4 Declaration of Thailand as a transfer country\n\n  Thailand is declared to be a transfer country.\n\n5 Application of the Act\n\n  The Act applies to Thailand, subject to the Agreement.\n\nSchedule 1 Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand on the Transfer of Offenders and Co‑operation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentences\n\n(regulation 3)\n\n \n\n \n\nAGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND ON THE TRANSFER OF OFFENDERS AND CO-OPERATION IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF PENAL SENTENCES\n\n \n\nThe Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of Australia;\n\nTaking into consideration the laws and regulations in force regarding law enforcement of the Parties and the desirability of enhancing their co-operative efforts in law enforcement and the administration of justice;\n\nDesiring to co-operate in the enforcement of penal sentences;\n\nDesiring to facilitate the successful reintegration and rehabilitation of offenders into society; and\n\nConsidering that these objectives should be fulfilled by giving offenders who are deprived of their liberty as a result of their commission of a criminal offence the opportunity to serve their sentences within their own society;\n\nHave agreed as follows:\n\n \n\nARTICLE 1\n\nDEFINITIONS\n\n \n\n For the purpose of this Agreements:\n\n (a) “transferring State” means the Party from which the offender may be, or has been transferred;\n\n (b) “receiving State” means the Party to which the offender may be, or has been transferred;\n\n (c) “offender” means a person who is required to be detained in a prison, a hospital or any other institution in the transferring State by virtue of an order made by a court in the course of the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction, and also applies to an offender who has been released on parole;\n\n (d) “sentence” means any punishment or measure involving deprivation of liberty ordered by a court for a limited or unlimited period of time in the course of the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 2\n\nGENERAL PRINCIPLES\n\n \n\n A person sentenced in the territory of one Party may be transferred to the territory of the other Party in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement in order to serve the sentence imposed on him.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 3\n\nSCOPE OF APPLICATION\n\n \n\n The application of this Agreement shall be subject to the following conditions, namely that:\n\n (a) the acts or omissions on account of which the sentence has been imposed constitute the essential elements of a criminal offence according to the law of the receiving State or would constitute such elements of a criminal offence if committed on its territory. This requirement may be waived in a particular case if both Parties agree and to the extent permitted by the domestic law of the transferring State; \n\n (b) the offender is a national of the receiving State;\n\n (c) the offender was not sentenced in respect of an offence under the law of Thailand:\n\n (i) against the internal or external security of the State;\n\n (ii) against the Monarch, his Consort or his sons or daughters; or\n\n (iii) against legislation protecting national art treasures;\n\n (d) the sentence imposed on the offender is one of imprisonment, confinement or any other form of deprivation of liberty in any institution:\n\n (i) for life;\n\n (ii) for an indeterminate period on account of mental incapacity; or\n\n (iii) for a fixed period of which at least one year remains to be served at the time of the request for transfer;\n\n (e) an offender may not be transferred unless he has served in the transferring State any minimum period of imprisonment, confinement or deprivation of liberty stipulated by the law of the transferring State;\n\n (f) the judgment is final and no further or other legal proceedings relating to the offence or               any other offence are pending in the transferring State;\n\n (g) the transferring and receiving States and the offender all agree to the transfer; provided that, where in view of his age or physical or mental condition either Party considers it necessary, the offender’s consent may be given by a person entitled to act on his behalf.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 4\n\nPROCEDURE FOR TRANSFER\n\n \n\n (1) Both Parties shall endeavour to inform such persons as are within the scope of the present Agreement of the substance of the Agreement.\n\n (2) Every transfer under this Agreement shall be commenced through diplomatic channels by a written request from the receiving State to the transferring State. The transferring State shall inform the receiving State of its decision through diplomatic channels and, if it approves the request, initiate procedures to effectuate the transfer.\n\n (3) The transferring State shall provide the receiving State with the following information:\n\n (a) a statement of the facts upon which the sentence was based;\n\n (b) the termination date of the sentence, the length of time already served by the offender and any credits to which he is entitled including on account of good behaviour, pre‑trial confinement or other reasons; \n\n (c) a certified copy of all judgments and sentences concerning the offender from the date of his detention in the transferring State, and the law on which they are based;\n\n (d) any other additional information requested by the receiving State.\n\n (4) Either Party shall, as far as possible, provide the other Party, if it so requests, with any relevant information, documents or statements before making a request for transfer or taking a decision on whether or not to agree to the transfer.\n\n (5) The transferring State shall afford an opportunity to the receiving State, if the receiving State so desires, to verify through an official designated by the receiving State, prior to the transfer, that the offender’s consent to the transfer in accordance with Article 3 (g) of this Agreement is given voluntarily and with full knowledge of the consequences thereof.\n\n (6) Delivery of the offender by the authorities of the transferring State to those of the receiving State shall occur on a date and at a place within the transferring State as agreed upon by both Parties.\n\n (7) Each Party shall designate a competent authority to administer the requests for transfer for the purposes of this Agreement.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 5\n\nRETENTION OF JURISDICTION\n\n \n\n In respect of sentences to be enforced pursuant to this Agreement, the transferring State shall retain exclusive jurisdiction regarding the judgments of its courts, the sentences imposed by them, and any procedures for revision, modification or cancellation of those judgments and sentences.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 6\n\nPROCEDURE FOR ENFORCEMENT OF SENTENCE\n\n \n\n (1) The continued enforcement of the sentence after transfer shall be governed by the laws and procedures of the receiving State, including those governing conditions for service of imprisonment, confinement or other deprivation of liberty, and those providing for the reduction of the term of imprisonment, confinement or other deprivation of liberty by parole, conditional release, remission or otherwise.\n\n (2) Subject to paragraph (3) of this Article, the receiving State shall be bound by the legal nature and duration of the sentence as determined by the transferring State.\n\n (3) No sentence of deprivation of liberty shall be enforced by the receiving State in such a way as to extend it beyond the period specified in the sentence of the court of the transferring State. Such enforcement shall as far as possible correspond with the sentence imposed in the transferring State.\n\n (4) If the transferring State revises, modifies or cancels the judgment or sentence pursuant to Article 5 of this Agreement or otherwise reduces, commutes or terminates the sentence, the receiving State shall upon being notified of the decision give effect thereto in accordance with this Article.\n\n (5) The receiving State may treat under its law relating to juveniles any offender so categorised under its law regardless of his status under the law of the transferring State.\n\n (6) The receiving State shall provide information to the transferring State concerning the enforcement of the sentence:\n\n (a) if the offender is granted conditional release and when he is discharged on completion of the sentence;\n\n (b) if the offender has escaped from custody before enforcement of the sentence has been completed; or\n\n (c) if the transferring State requests a report.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 7\n\nTRANSIT OF OFFENDERS\n\n \n\n If either Party transfers an offender from any third State, the other Party shall co-operate in facilitating the transit through its territory of such an offender. The Party intending to make such a transfer shall give advance notice to the other Party of such transit.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 8\n\nEXPENSES\n\n \n\n The expenses incurred in the transfer of the offender or in the continued enforcement of the sentence after transfer shall be borne by the receiving State. The receiving State may, however, seek to recover all or part of the cost of transfer from the prisoner.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 9\n\nTERRITORIAL APPLICATION\n\n \n\nThis Agreement shall apply:\n\n (a) In relation to Australia, to all Australian States and Territories;\n\n (b) In relation to Thailand, to the Kingdom of Thailand.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 10\n\nTEMPORAL APPLICATION\n\n \n\n This Agreement shall be applicable to the enforcement of sentence imposed either before or after its entry into force.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 11\n\nSETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES\n\n \n\n Any dispute arising out of the interpretation, application or implementation of this Agreement shall be resolved by the Parties through diplomatic channels.\n\n \n\nARTICLE 12\n\nFINAL PROVISIONS\n\n \n\n (1) This Agreement shall be subject to ratification and shall enter into force on the date on which instruments of ratification are exchanged. This exchange of instruments shall take place at Canberra as soon as possible.\n\n (2) The present Agreement shall remain in force for five years from the date upon which it enters into force. Thereafter, the Agreement shall continue in force until six months from the date upon which either Party gives written notice to the other Party of its intention to terminate it.\n\n \n\nIN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present Agreement.\n\n \n\nDONE at Hanoi, this 26th day of July 2001 in duplicate, in the English and Thai languages, each text being equally authentic.\n\n \n\n \n\n| For the Government of Australia | For the Government of<br>the Kingdom of Thailand |\n| --- | --- |\n| <br>Alexander Downer | <br>S. Sathirathai |\n\n\nNote\n\n1. Notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 11 October 2002.\n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly scoped to its original purpose: implementing the specific Australia-Thailand prisoner transfer treaty. The regulations do exactly what the enabling Act (International Transfer of Prisoners Act 1997) anticipates—declaring a specific country as a transfer country and applying the Act subject to the bilateral agreement. No expansion beyond this narrow treaty-implementation function."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument: only 5 regulations plus Schedule 1 (the treaty text)","Minimal defined terms: only 2 definitions in regulation 3 ('Act' and 'Agreement')","No nested exceptions or conditional logic in the regulations themselves","Straightforward declaratory structure: regulation 4 declares Thailand a transfer country, regulation 5 applies the Act subject to the Agreement","Complexity resides in Schedule 1 (the treaty) rather than the regulations, with 12 articles covering procedural and substantive conditions, but this is standard treaty text incorporated by reference","No cross-references between multiple Acts or complex statutory interdependencies"],"plain_english_summary":"This legislation allows Australian prisoners in Thailand (and Thai prisoners in Australia) to serve their sentences in their home country. It implements a treaty between Australia and Thailand signed in Hanoi in 2001.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Declares Thailand a \"transfer country\"** under Australia's International Transfer of Prisoners Act 1997, meaning prisoners can be transferred between the two nations\n- **Sets the rules** for who can be transferred and how it works\n\n**Who can be transferred:**\n- Prisoners sentenced to at least one year remaining (or life sentences)\n- Must be a national of the country they want to transfer to\n- The crime must be illegal in both countries (with some exceptions)\n- **Cannot transfer** Thai prisoners convicted of crimes against national security, the Thai royal family, or national art treasures\n- Everyone must agree: the prisoner, the transferring country, and the receiving country\n\n**How it works:**\n- The receiving country makes a formal diplomatic request\n- The transferring country provides court documents and sentence details\n- The receiving country takes over enforcing the sentence but **cannot make it longer** than the original\n- The receiving country pays the costs (though they can try to recover some from the prisoner)\n\n**Why it matters:**\nPrisoners can serve time closer to family and support networks, which helps rehabilitation. It also lets countries enforce each other's court sentences while respecting each other's legal systems."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument does not materially change the overall statutory purpose of the International Transfer of Prisoners Act 1997. It implements the Act in respect of one specific country (Thailand) by declaring Thailand a transfer country (regulation 4) and by prescribing the bilateral Agreement that will govern transfers to and from Thailand (regulation 5 and Schedule 1). The Schedule tailors eligibility conditions and procedures for transfers with Thailand (for example, exclusions in Agreement Article 3(c) and the one‑year minimum remaining sentence in Article 3(d)(iii)), but those are country‑specific terms within the Act’s intended framework rather than an expansion beyond the Act’s original scope."},"complexity_factors":["Short regulations (5 regulations) but with a full treaty text in Schedule 1 (12 Articles).","4 defined terms in Agreement Article 1 plus defined Act/Agreement in the Regulations (regulation 3).","Multiple eligibility conditions with nested subclauses in Agreement Article 3 (nationality, offence‑equivalence, exclusions, minimum remaining sentence, finality, consent).","Cross-reference to the International Transfer of Prisoners Act 1997 (regulation 3 definition of Act; regulation 5 applies the Act subject to the Agreement).","Procedural layering: diplomatic channel requirement, information exchange, verification of consent, and designation of competent authorities (Agreement Article 4).","Retention of jurisdiction and interaction between transferring State’s judicial decisions and receiving State’s enforcement rules (Agreement Articles 5–6).","Temporal and territorial clauses that extend application to all States/Territories and to past sentences (Agreement Articles 9–10).","Discretion left to competent authorities and diplomatic negotiation (Article 4(7), Article 11), creating operational complexity rather than legal ambiguity."],"plain_english_summary":"**What this instrument does (mechanically)**\n\n- Declares Thailand to be a \"transfer country\" under the International Transfer of Prisoners Act 1997 (regulation 4).  \n- Makes the Act apply to transfers involving Thailand, but subject to the specific bilateral Agreement that is set out in Schedule 1 (regulation 5).  \n- Sets out the full text of the Agreement between Australia and Thailand on transfer of offenders and co‑operation in the enforcement of penal sentences (Schedule 1, Articles 1–12).\n\n**Who is affected**\n\n- Offenders (prisoners) who are Australian or Thai nationals and who are eligible for transfer under the Agreement (Agreement Article 3).  \n- Commonwealth, State and Territory authorities responsible for receiving and processing transfer requests (Agreement Article 4(7); Article 9(a)).  \n- The receiving State (the country taking custody of the prisoner) which bears the transfer and enforcement costs but may seek reimbursement from the prisoner (Agreement Article 8).  \n- Courts and correctional authorities in the transferring State, because the transferring State retains exclusive jurisdiction over its judgments (Agreement Article 5).\n\n**Why it matters (purpose claims and how the instrument tries to achieve them)**\n\n- The Agreement is designed to allow people sentenced in one country to serve their sentence in the other country (Agreement Article 2).  \n- It attempts to facilitate rehabilitation by enabling prisoners to serve sentences within their own society (preamble, Schedule 1).  \n- Mechanisms used: explicit eligibility conditions (e.g. nationality, finality of judgment, minimum remaining sentence), a diplomatic‑channel request procedure, mandatory information exchange, and rules on how the receiving State enforces the sentence (Agreement Articles 3–6).\n\n**Key substantive rules and operational mechanics (with section pointers)**\n\n- Eligibility conditions: the offender must generally be a national of the receiving State; the acts must generally be offences under the receiving State’s law (or waived by agreement); certain Thai offences are excluded (Article 3(a)–(c)). A sentence must be (among other things) imprisonment, life, indeterminate on mental incapacity, or a fixed term with at least one year remaining when the request is made (Article 3(d)).\n\n- Agreement and consent: transfer requires agreement by the transferring State, receiving State and the offender (Article 3(g)). Where the offender cannot validly consent because of age or incapacity, a person authorised to act for the offender may consent (Article 3(g)). The receiving State may verify consent before transfer (Article 4(5)).\n\n- Procedure: transfer requests must go through diplomatic channels; the transferring State must provide detailed case material (Article 4(2)–(4)); each Party must nominate a competent authority to handle requests (Article 4(7)).\n\n- Jurisdiction and enforcement: the transferring State keeps exclusive jurisdiction over the original judgment (Article 5). After transfer, enforcement of the sentence is governed by the receiving State’s laws and procedures, but the receiving State must not extend the sentence beyond what the transferring court imposed (Article 6(1)–(4)). The receiving State must report certain enforcement events back to the transferring State (Article 6(6)).\n\n- Costs: the receiving State normally pays transfer and enforcement expenses but may seek to recover transfer costs from the prisoner (Article 8).\n\n- Territorial and temporal scope: the Agreement applies to all Australian States and Territories (Article 9) and can apply to sentences imposed before or after it enters into force (Article 10). The treaty runs for five years from entry into force and thereafter continues until six months after written notice of termination (Article 12(2)).\n\n**Testing the purpose-claims against costs, incentives and implementation issues**\n\n- Who pays: the receiving State bears transfer and enforcement costs (Article 8). That places direct financial responsibility on the government that accepts the prisoner and creates an incentive for receiving States to be selective about accepting transfers. The receiving State’s option to recover transfer costs from the prisoner creates limited private cost‑recovery but depends on the prisoner's capacity to pay.\n\n- Who decides: transfer requires agreement among transferring State, receiving State and offender (Article 3(g)), and each Party designates a competent authority to process requests (Article 4(7)). This setup centralises decision‑making in government agencies and diplomacy (Article 4(2)).\n\n- Trade-offs and behavioural effects: the Agreement lowers barriers for prisoners to serve sentences in their home country (potential benefit to prisoners and family contact), but it also requires resources and administrative effort by receiving States. The requirement that the sentence have at least one year remaining (Article 3(d)(iii)) and the finality requirement (Article 3(f)) limit transfers to more substantial, resolved sentences, thereby reducing administrative churn but excluding short sentences.\n\n- Implementation and compliance risks: the Agreement relies on diplomatic channels and accurate information exchange (Article 4(2)–(4)). Verifying voluntary consent (Article 4(5)) can be administratively demanding. Differences between domestic enforcement regimes—parole, remission, juvenile treatment—mean receiving States may apply different release rules within constraints (Article 6(1), (3), (5)), which can create expectation or fairness disputes.\n\n- Bureaucratic discretion: the text leaves procedural discretion to the competent authorities and to diplomatic negotiation (Article 4(2), (7); Article 11 on dispute settlement by diplomacy). The transferring State retains exclusive jurisdiction over judicial matters (Article 5), which limits unilateral changes by the receiving State but preserves scope for intergovernmental negotiation.\n\n**Concentrated benefits, diffuse costs, and risks**\n\n- Concentrated benefits: eligible prisoners and their families gain the direct benefit of serving sentences closer to home; receiving‑state correctional systems may gain from managing their own nationals.  \n- Diffuse costs: taxpayers in the receiving State fund transfers and enforcement (Article 8), unless costs are successfully recovered from prisoners.  \n- Risk of disagreement or delay: diplomatic channel requirement and differing domestic rules can produce negotiation delays and operational friction (Articles 4 and 6).\n\n**Bottom line (mechanical effect)**\n\n- These Regulations make Thailand a country with which Australia may exchange sentenced offenders under the International Transfer of Prisoners Act 1997 and prescribe the terms of that exchange by incorporating the bilateral Agreement. The Agreement sets eligibility rules, procedural steps, cost allocation, retention of judicial jurisdiction by the transferring State, and how sentences are to be enforced after transfer."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/international-transfer-of-prisoners-thailand-regulations-2002","history":"/api/acts/international-transfer-of-prisoners-thailand-regulations-2002/history","analysis":"/api/acts/international-transfer-of-prisoners-thailand-regulations-2002/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/international-transfer-of-prisoners-thailand-regulations-2002/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/international-transfer-of-prisoners-thailand-regulations-2002/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/international-transfer-of-prisoners-thailand-regulations-2002/documents"}}