Law experts have raised criticisms of Thailand’s Data Protection Law draft

Law experts have raised criticisms of Thailand’s Data Protection Law draft, saying that there are several issues requiring amendment, especially concerns over abuse of power.As it stands, the draft does not allow for citizens to sue the Government, and critics also contend that the data privacy committee should be an independent body, not comprised of members of Government authorities.Thailand is in the final stages of consultation on its draft privacy legislation which has already approved by the Council of State and is being processed to the congress. Also, as an Asean member country, Thailand shares a commitment to harmonise its data protection laws by 2015.
Dhiraphol Suwanprateep, partner at Baker & McKenzie, said Section 5 (2) of the draft makes exception in cases that collect data for personal use, but there is a need to seek approval from data owners when collecting data and to inform them of the purpose of usage.Furthermore, the law should ensure that data is collected in an appropriate manner, otherwise it would be inadmissible as evidence in court.However, while there may still be some concerns over this law, it is still necessary as there are numerous data privacy threats in existence, such as the sale of personal information to businesses or criminals.But the harmonisation of the law is essential for international business, as multinational companies would be unlikely to send transfer data if the destination country does not have equal privacy standards to their own. This would result in Thailand losing business opportunities in business process outsourcing.