The National Legislative Assembly on Thursday endorsed a bill to amend the laws governing obscene materials and increase penalties.
The assembly passed the bill in the final reading by a vote of 193-1 with two abstentions.
The bill introduces a definition of “obscene materials involving minors” in Section 1 of the Penal Code which gathers definitions applicable to general offences.
It says obscene material involving minors means materials or objects which depict or describe sexual conduct by a person aged under 18 or a person engaging in sexual conduct with a minor.
The material can be in the form of documents, drawings, printed works, photography, advertising images, motion pictures, audio-visual recordings, or similar material as well as any that can be stored in a computer or other electronic devices.
The amendments also seek to increase penalties for distributors, producers, exhibitors or advertisers of obscene materials stipulated in Section 287, from a sentence not exceeding seven years' imprisonment and/or a fine not exceeding 14,000 baht, to three to seven years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of between 10,000 and 300,000 baht.