Published on December 19, 2005

To build competitiveness for Thailand, the legal reform sub-committee has been reviewing the electronics transaction law and it will submit the reviewed law to the electronic transaction committee and the national policy committee by the end of this year. Those committees will then send the new draft to the Cabinet next year.

Surangkana Wayuparb, a specialist at the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, said that the reviewed electronic-transaction law aims to recognise electronic documents in the public and private sectors.

The law as reviewed covers seven main sections, the title of the law, the date of enforcement, electronic stamp duty, electronic seals, acceptance of electronic evidence in retail transactions, acceptance of electronic documents which have been converted from paper, and ministerial responsibility for the law.

Surangkana said that the reviewed law will help the private sector build competitiveness and reduce the cost of investment for paperless trading in international markets.

“Formerly, private and public sectors did not have confidence that the electronic documents could be accepted as evidence in courts. The new transaction law will change that,” said Surangkana.

The sub-committee has also suggested reviews of the law related to security concerns in terms of security policy, control of asset classification, communication and operations management, personal security, physical and environmental security, access control and compliance.

However, the sub-committee also accepted that it has problems creating understanding and security to support both public and private sectors.

She said that the reviewed law will encourage courts to accept electronic documents and allow private and public sectors to use such documents or paperless systems to reduce the cost of their business investment.

jirapan@nationgroup.com

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation

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