Regulatory environment
Thailand's regulatory bodies are not known for their transparency or efficiency. The government has been very protective of state-owned carriers, which continue to enjoy monopoly status. It was only under the new constitution of 1997 that a decision was made to liberalise the telecommunications industry.

However, Thailand is a participant in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNICTRAL). UNICTRAL has enacted a model law on electronic commerce, and Thailand has based its first two pieces of draft legislation on this model.

The national Information Technology Committee in, consultation with the National Electronic and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC), empowered six subcommittees to draft six pieces of e-commerce legislation in 1998. The six are the Electronic Transactions Act, Electronic Signature Law, Computer Crime Law, Data Protection Law, Electronic Funds Transfer Law and Universal Access Law. So far, only the first two have been drafted.

The Electronic Transactions Law aims to provide a legal framework ensuring "functional equivalence" for electronic contracts, whereby contracts can be used in courts as evidence. The cabinet has approved a draft of this law. The Electronic Signature Law is designed to make digital signatures binding.

Intellectual property law
There are no specific provisions in copyright and patent laws for information or services transmitted electronically. However, the broad definitions of "artistic" and "audiovisual" works are viewed as giving some protection to content providers, whereas trademark statutes apply to all registered works.

Showing a heightened concern for privacy, the government is currently drafting a law to protect the personal privacy of individuals. Thailand's Data Protection law is part of a series of e-commerce legislation that the Senate will consider. It is based on data-protection laws used in the EU, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

To protect consumers from cybercrime, NECTEC released a draft of a computer crime law in March for public hearing. The draft comprises 16 articles.

The main content of the draft outlines what constitutes a computer crime. This includes computer hacking, illegal interception of data, interference with computer systems, computer-related fraud and forgery, online child pornography, and reproduction and distribution of copyright protected material.

Digital signature
The law on digital signature is included in the broader e-commerce law that is pending approval.

Censorship
Thailand has a relatively free media, though most of the major radio and television stations are owned by the military. Freedom House, a non-profit, non-partisan organisation monitoring political rights and civil liberties worldwide, ranked Thailand's Internet as "moderately" restrictive in its annual 2001 Press Freedom Survey.

Source: The EIU ebusiness forum

More Information

• Thailand.com
• Depthai.go.th
• Custom.go.th
• Law firms in Thailand