First IT law to be passed soon?

E-transaction law to pave way for 5 more

Thailand is on the verge of accepting electronic transactions as being equal to paper documents and the National IT Committee approved the first of six IT-related laws this month.

The National Information Technology Committee (NITC), headed by the Prime Minister, approved the first reading of the Electronic Transactions Bill some 10 days ago on November 5 at Government House.

The draft is expected to go before Parliament next month, since the Prime Minister had instructed the National Electronics and Computer Technology Committee (Nectec) to submit the draft to Parliament in the next parliament general session, according to Nectec Director Thaweesak Koanantakool.

The next general session of the House is due to start on November 23.

This law essentially says that electronic messages may be accepted as being equivalent to paper documents and inked signatures. Dr Thaweesak noted that its adoption would help facilitate the healthy development of electronic commerce in Thailand and it would boost Thailand's competitiveness in international trading.

The first reading of the draft was presided over by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Trairong Suwankiri, with Nectec, which is under the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), as the secretariat.

The drafting committee consists of legal experts from institutions such as Thammasat University, the Council of State, the Civil Court, the Penal Court, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bank of Thailand, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and was chaired by Prof Arun Phanupong with Prof Kanung Luchai as deputy chairman.

A few Nectec technical staff members also assisted the drafting committee on technical verifications of the law.

Deputy Chairman of the drafting committee Prof Kanung said the law consisted of two parts in 22 sections.

"The first part (Sections 6 to 11) describes the legal status of electronic messages, meaning that electronic messages are treated as equal to paper, while the second part (Sections 12-20) deal with the adoption of electronic transactions, which contract parties may agree otherwise," he said.

This bill is the first among a suite of six laws initiated by the NITC and approved by the Cabinet in December 1997. Other bills will follow closely next year.

NITC was set up in March 1992 to take care of IT planning for the country, with IT-related legal transformation as one of its mandates. Chief executives (permanent secretaries) of most ministries are committee members of NITC.

Thailand's Electronic Transactions Bill was supported by extensive research by a large team of legal and technical in-house experts at Nectec and more than 25 meetings of the committee and its working group, Dr Thaweesak explained.

Strongly modeled after the Model Law on Electronic Commerce of UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law), the bill was carefully adjusted to suit the Thai environment while maintaining clear compatibility with international practices, he said.

According to Prof Kanung, the next bill to be completed would be the Electronic Signature Law, to recognise the use of codes and encryption techniques to provide data security and authentication in electronic transactions.

© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 1999
Last Modified: Mon, Nov 16, 1999
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