Section 219: When an arbitration agreement ends
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าในข้อตกลงมิได้กำหนดข้อความไว้เป็นอย่างอื่น ในกรณีที่ไม่อาจดำเนินตามข้อตกลง เสนอข้อพิพาทให้อนุญาโตตุลาการชี้ขาด เพราะบุคคลภายนอกซึ่งรับมอบหมายให้เป็นผู้ตั้งอนุญาโตตุลาการมิได้ตั้งอนุญาโตตุลาการขึ้น หรืออนุญาโตตุลาการที่ตั้งขึ้นคนเดียวหรือหลายคนนั้นปฏิเสธไม่ยอมรับหน้าที่ หรือตายเสียก่อน หรือตกเป็นผู้ไร้ความสามารถ หรือด้วยเหตุประการอื่นไม่อาจที่จะปฏิบัติหน้าที่ของตนได้ก่อนให้คำชี้ขาด หรือปฏิเสธ หรือเพิกเฉยไม่กระทำตามหน้าที่ของตนภายในเวลาอันสมควร ถ้าคู่ความไม่สามารถทำความตกลงกันเป็นอย่างอื่น ให้ถือว่าข้อตกลงนั้นเป็นอันสิ้นสุด
English translation
If the agreement does not provide otherwise, where it is not possible to proceed under the agreement to submit the dispute to the arbitrators for an award, because the outside person entrusted with appointing the arbitrators has not appointed them, or the arbitrator or arbitrators appointed, whether one or several, refuse to accept the office, or die beforehand, or become incapacitated, or by any other cause are unable to perform their duties before giving the award, or refuse, or neglect to perform their duties within a reasonable time, then, if the parties cannot agree otherwise, the agreement shall be deemed to have come to an end.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
This section deals with breakdown of the arbitration machinery. It applies only as a default, where the parties' agreement is silent. It lists the events that frustrate the process: a failure to appoint, refusal of office, death, incapacity, any other inability to act before the award, or refusal or neglect to perform within a reasonable time. When one of these events occurs and the parties cannot rescue the arrangement by agreement, the arbitration agreement terminates, which frees the dispute to be pursued through the ordinary courts.
Why this matters in practice
If your arbitration stalls because an arbitrator dies or refuses to act, this section can end the agreement and send you back to court, which may or may not be what you want. A well-drafted clause should name a replacement mechanism so a single vacancy does not collapse the whole arbitration. If your arbitration has broken down and you are deciding whether to litigate instead, our guide to going to court in Thailand sets out what to expect.
Cited in 2 Supreme Court decisions (2004 to 2016)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 2723/2559 (2016)
- Decision 210/2547 (2004)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
What happens if the appointed arbitrator dies or refuses to act?
Under Section 219, if the parties cannot agree on a replacement or another solution, the arbitration agreement is deemed to end and the dispute can go to the ordinary courts.
Can the parties override Section 219?
Yes. It applies only where the arbitration agreement does not provide otherwise, so a clause with a replacement mechanism will govern instead.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Civil Procedure Code, s. 219 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Civil Procedure Code (Thailand), s. 219. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-procedure-code/section-219/ (accessed 11 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.วิ.พ. มาตรา 219 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-procedure-code/section-219/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-procedure-code/section-219/"><p>If the agreement does not provide otherwise, where it is not possible to proceed under the agreement to submit the dispute to the arbitrators for an award, because the outside person entrusted with appointing the arbitrators has not appointed them, or the arbitrator or arbitrators…</p><footer>Civil Procedure Code, s. 219 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-procedure-code/section-219/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.