Supreme Court Judgment No. 5818/2549 (Maya Bay Case) Country/Territory Thailand Type of court National - higher court Date Sep 21, 2006 Source UNEP, InforMEA Court name Supreme Court Seat of court Bangkok Reference number Decided Case No. 5818/2549 Language Thai Subject Legal questions, Environment gen. Keyword Access-to-justice Abstract The Supreme Court ruled that local administrations have duties under the law to oversee and improve natural resources and the environment and therefore had the power to sue the defendants who were private entities who had undertook actions which caused damage to the environment within their jurisdiction and public authorities and bodies who gave approval to do so.The Court however ruled that other plaintiffs who claimed that they were persons in a traditional community of Krabi according to Article 46 of the Constitution B.E. 2540 did not have standing to sue because the term “traditional community” had not been clearly defined and there was no implementing legislation to Article 46 at the time the lawsuit was filed.The Court upheld the Court of Appeal's judgment to return the merits of the case to the Court of First Instance in order to take evidence regarding the plaintiffs' request that the defendants improved Maya Bay beach back to its previous natural state. Full text SC 5818.2549.pdf July_29_2009_2_24_d5d4ee9fa7d86ae4d6930e6f9ff01f74.pdf