Implementing good regulation principles Phongthep Thepkanjana Minister Ministry of Justice Thailand

1997 Constitution Underlying principles Transparency Accountability Public Participation Mandate on good regulation principles The State must … repeal and refrain from issuing any law or business regulation that is not in accordance with the economic necessity. Key institutions to ensure adherence to the Constitution Constitutional Court Economic and Social Advisory Council

Ongoing Regulatory Reform Legislative Reform 45 Parliamentary Acts are earmarked for repeal More law will either be repealed or amended Administrative Reform Regulatory agencies are being streamlined Administrative independence is being safeguarded Judicial Reform Administrative Court was set up for judicial review of administrative actions All Courts were made independent of the Administrative Branch

Regulatory Co-ordination and Management The Independent Regulatory Framework Subcommittee under the State Enterprise Policy Committee is responsible to ensure that all new independent regulatory agencies are established under the same framework. Juridical Council / Conseil d’Etat reviews all draft bills prior to its deliberation by the Parliament and all draft decrees and ministerial ordinances prior to their promulgation. Administrative Procedure Committee has a responsible to monitor the performance of all administrative duties, including regulatory duties, and issue a report on the matter to the Cabinet at least annually.

Regulatory Co-ordination and Management Regulatory Capacity Building Project under the auspices of the Independent Regulatory Framework Subcommittee and the supervision of the Ministry of Finance was initiated with an aim to promote regulatory research and training. Regulatory Capacity Building Centre a public benefit private organisation has recently been set up to, inter alia, undertake to the above Project.

Past Problems and New Tactics Despite the rather comprehensive institutional reform mentioned above, regulatory quality improvement has been very limited due to Competing political priority Bureaucratic inertia Abstractness of reform being proposed Reform efforts now centring around concrete date-certain privatisation programme

Future Challenges Need to strengthen due regulatory process Need to strengthen regulatory practice capability Price / competition regulation Dispute resolution Need to strengthen regulatory review capability Public consultation Regulatory impact assessment