The Finance Ministry wants criminal offences related to the dishonest use of cheques to be added to the National Credit Bureau's (NCB) blacklist following the amendment of the Offences Arising from the Use of Cheques Act of 1991, says Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat.
On Nov 27, 2023, the cabinet passed a resolution to amend the Cheques Act.
Mr Julapun said the amendment prevents criminal liability for individuals who unintentionally write bad cheques.
The amendment is meant to comply with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which decrees that no one should be prosecuted under criminal law if they did not have dishonest intent.
The proposed amendment is under consideration by the House of Representatives.
However, in order for cheques to remain a secure and reliable means of payment after the amendment, he said he will discuss with the NCB the collection of information for criminal offences under the Cheques Act.
The regulations for storing cheque offence information may be set differently from non-performing loans, as the latter is stored by the NCB for five years.
If a debtor's payments return to a normal status, credit information is stored in the bureau's database for another three years, for a total of eight years.
Mr Julapun said the proposed amendment aligns with Section 77 of the constitution, which states that criminal penalties should be imposed for serious offences only.
At the international level, other practices are used instead of imposing criminal liability on bad cheque issuers, such as a cheque insurance system, financial institution customer databases, and revocation of occupational licences.
These practices are meant to increase public confidence in the use of cheques.
