The first significant new legislation governing the film industry for 77 years will go before the National Legislative Assembly soon, according to the Culture Ministry and industry sources.

Ministry senior official Ladda Tangsuphachi told The Nation the bill had received Council of State approval.

"It's now ready for the NLA. It's a product of several years' work. The major change is that it will introduce a film-rating system.

"We'll also get more diverse people involved in adopting measures to manage the film industry," Ladda said.

Existing legislation governing the film industry is the Thai Film Act of 1930.

"If the bill is as good as the ministry has suggested it will lead to major change in the movie industry," the Law Society's Kwanchai Chotiphan said.

But some movie critics remain unconvinced that the legislation will result in greater artistic freedom. The industry has long been at odds with censors.

"It could be even worse, because they'll have both the rating system and, probably, the censors," critic Suparb Rimthephathip of Bioscope magazine said.

Film producers and artists have started to lobby the Constitution Drafting Committee to include the industry's freedom of expression and speech in the new charter.

"Films and the performing arts could be defined as forms of mass media so film-makers and artists are guaranteed basic constitutional rights as far as freedom of expression and speech are concerned," the group said in a statement submitted to charter-drafters on Wednesday.

Critic Kittisak Suwannaphokin said the law should treat films as art rather than a medium, adding that the industry needed both freedom and state financial support to prosper.

Kittisak said industry problems with the censorship board were not solely the result of outdated or unfavourable legislation.

"The human factor is the most important. If we have unqualified persons in charge of censorship, or even the proposed rating system, we will still face problems.

"To make things better, people with these tasks need to be open-minded and visionary, with an artistic penchant," Kittisak said.

An online censorship opposition group will join the Campaign for Popular Media Reform in demanding greater freedom of expression in films.

"Our stand is simple: no cuts, no bans. The proposed new law needs to be better. If the ministry's version is not good enough, the industry may draft its own version for consideration by the public," Bioscope's Suparb said.