A long-awaited draft bill on class actions, which allow an individual investor to represent a group who suffered financial loss in filing a lawsuit against stock manipulators and companies for their misconduct, is expected to take effect this year.
The bill, if it is enforced, will be an efficient device in protecting individuals from being cheated over investments, said Veerathai Santiprabhob, an adviser to the Thailand Development Research Institute.
He said the bill had been frozen for a long time even though the Finance Ministry completed the drafting process 10 years ago.
Veerathai: Bill delay due to politicians
Advantages of class actions are lower litigation costs, reducing the time spent in court in ruling on the same cases and more opportunity for all plaintiffs to receive compensation.
The draft is now under National Legislative Assembly (NLA) deliberation.
Mr Veerathai blamed the long delay on politicians not paying attention to pushing the draft along.
A set of cyber bills, which are crucial to pave the way for the country to become a digital economy, are also now under NLA deliberation, he said.
Mr Veerathai said privatisation of state enterprises was a long-term strategy, as it maximised the use of state enterprise assets to slim the government's costs in providing services.
That will reduce overlapping investment, and users of state enterprises' services will pay less, he said.
One objective of privatising state enterprises is to enhance efficiency in managing the country's assets.
"In each year, state enterprises' expenditure and investment budget are almost double the central budget, so we can see politicians fight for power. Some ministries have hidden benefits such as the ICT Ministry, which oversees both TOT and CAT," Mr Veerathai said.
He said the State-Owned Enterprises Reform Committee had proposed setting up a committee to supervise state enterprises with the aim of improving management.
Energy reform is a priority, as fuel is a major operating cost, Mr Veerathai said.
He said an appropriate energy price structure would help to keep energy costs at the right level.
Energy reform and privatisation could become clearer in the second half of this year, said Mr Veerathai, who is a member of the State Enterprises Policy Commission.