A hapless Thai bureaucrat has the whole world laughing after issuing a warning to tourists this week not to take pirate or copied goods into the Kingdom.

Thailand is widely recognised as the global capital of knock-offs – whether it be copied DVDs, fake luxury designer goods or Viagra – it’s all freely and openly available on the streets of Bangkok, the industry sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Thai people.

Expatriate locals have taken to blogs to howl with derision at this week’s comical announcement by Pajchima Tanasanti, director-general of something called “the Intellectual Property Department”. The expatriate community somewhat cynical consensus is that Thailand is simply trying to protect its own piracy industry.

“You can’t make this stuff up. The knock-off capital of the world is sending a message for no one to try and muscle in on their market,” wrote one expat.

Tanasanti, who must have the most pointless bureaucrat role in Thailand, has warned airline passengers flying into Thailand they will soon receive on-board warnings against bringing counterfeit products into the Kingdom.

If they do, they risk being fined and having their goods confiscated.

That’s excellent news for the street vendors of Bangkok who will be quick to supply replacements for the goods seized at the airport – at bargain basement prices.

Tanasanti described the move as part of “a serious crackdown on counterfeit and pirated goods”.

Such ‘crackdowns’ have in the past resulted in the heavily publicised destruction by steamroller of seized goods in a bid to convince Thailand’s strongest ally, the US, that it is serious about reducing piracy.

Several times a year authorities raid locations like the notorious Pantip Market in downtown Bangkok where copied software, music, movies and even child pornography are openly sold from a modern air conditioned shopping mall while legitimate traders sell genuine goods on the upper floors. Such raids are well publicised in advance and as a result rarely result in the seizure of any goods.

The English language newspaper The Nation reports that commercial airlines will be required to warn their passengers that carrying counterfeit products into the Kingdom is a violation of Thai copyright law and subject to punishment.

The new rule will be imposed by Thailand’s Commerce Ministry’s Intellectual Property Department, in cooperation with the Transport Ministry’s Civil Aviation Department. The ban will cover “products that violate intellectual property rights”.

Presumably only written warnings will be issued – we cannot imagine airline flight crew making it through such a ridiculous warning without dissolving in laughter…

In another initiative, the ICT Ministry will step up efforts to block websites that sell fake or pirated products.