Section 262: Half penalty where a foreign government stamp is involved
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าการกระทำดังกล่าวในมาตรา ๒๕๔ มาตรา ๒๕๖ มาตรา ๒๕๗ หรือมาตรา ๒๖๑ เป็นการกระทำเกี่ยวกับแสตมป์รัฐบาลต่างประเทศ ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษกึ่งหนึ่งของโทษที่บัญญัติไว้ในมาตรานั้น ๆ
English translation
If an act referred to in Section 254, Section 256, Section 257, or Section 261 is done in relation to a foreign government stamp, the offender shall be liable to one half of the punishment prescribed in that Section.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 262 is a scaling provision rather than a separate offence. The stamp offences in this chapter are written for a Thai government stamp: Section 254 punishes forging or altering one, Section 256 punishes erasing or removing the mark showing that a stamp can no longer be used so that it may be used again, Section 257 punishes using, selling, offering for sale or exchanging a stamp produced by those acts, and Section 261 punishes making or possessing a tool for counterfeiting or altering. Section 262 extends those four provisions to a foreign government stamp and halves the punishment. So forging a Thai government stamp under Section 254 carries one to seven years and a fine of 20,000 to 140,000 baht, while the same act on a foreign government stamp carries one half of that. The section names Sections 254, 256, 257 and 261 only. The reduction is written into the liability itself, so it is not a discretionary mitigation and the halved figure is the starting point for sentencing.
Why this matters in practice
Two questions decide the sentence. The first is whether the stamp is a foreign government stamp, because that is what brings the halving rule into play; if it is a Thai government stamp this section does not apply at all and the full penalty of Section 254, 256, 257 or 261 stands. The second is which of those four sections the conduct falls under, since the punishment is one half of that section's own range. Because the reduction is part of the liability, it is applied first, and any further reduction the court allows for mitigating circumstances is calculated on the halved figure. The offence is not compoundable; see criminal law in Thailand.
Cited in 6 Supreme Court decisions (1964 to 2000)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 1892/2543 (2000)
- Decision 1029/2541 (1998)
- Decision 4632/2533 (1990)
- Decision 237/2536 (1993)
- Decision 2667/2536 (1993)
- Decision 168/2507 (1964)
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.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 265 6
- Section 264 5
- Section 83 4
- Section 254 4
- Section 263 4
- Section 250 4
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
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
Does Section 262 create an offence?
No. It applies to conduct already punishable under Sections 254, 256, 257 and 261, and where that conduct concerns a foreign government stamp it reduces the punishment to one half of the punishment prescribed by the section concerned.
How is the penalty calculated?
Take the range in the section the conduct falls under and halve it. Forging a government stamp under Section 254 carries one to seven years and a fine of 20,000 to 140,000 baht, so on a foreign government stamp the punishment is one half of that range.
Which sections does Section 262 cover?
Sections 254, 256, 257 and 261.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 262 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 262. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-262/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 262 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-262/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-262/"><p>If an act referred to in Section 254, Section 256, Section 257, or Section 261 is done in relation to a foreign government stamp, the offender shall be liable to one half of the punishment prescribed in that Section.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 262 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-262/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.