How a Market Authorization Holder Makes the Impossible… Possible
A major Mexican beauty brand came to us with a high-pressure, high-visibility challenge:
they were sponsoring the Miss Universe edition held in Thailand and needed to supply a large volume of makeup products for the official makeup artists to use on all contestants.
Sounds simple. It isn’t.
In Thailand you can’t import large quantities of cosmetics as “samples.”
The FDA allows only a handful of units per SKU for market testing, and only with pre-approval.
Trying a “parallel import” — the polite way of saying illegal import — would have been incredibly risky, especially for a global event watched by millions. A single misstep and the brand’s reputation would have taken a hit.
The solution? Using Siam Trade Development as Market Authorization Holder (MAH).
We registered all the products with Thai FDA under our cosmetic import license, created the compliant labels, coordinated the logistics, imported the shipment legally, and delivered everything directly to the Miss Universe organizers.
All completed safely, legally, and on time — in just a couple of months.
This is exactly what a Market Authorization Holder is meant for:
to support temporary projects, market-entry tests, pilot operations, and early-stage expansion where opening a local branch would be too expensive or premature.
With STD acting as MAH, a manufacturer only pays a straightforward fee (registration + license holding) and gains quick, legal access to the Thai market. The registration is valid for three years, and the MAH fee for one year — renewable if the brand wants to continue, or cancellable if they prefer to shift to a direct distributor or open their own entity later.
The result?
The Mexican contestant won Miss Universe.
Our Mexican client gained massive visibility.
And Siam Trade Development is proud to have played a part in making the whole operation smooth and successful.
Sometimes the right partner makes all the difference.
Telephone No.021006351
