Database

It is reported that, since the military coup in September 2006, online censorship activities in Thailand have expanded rapidly. While politically motivated, the censorship has a commercial impact, as video-sharing websites such as Youtube are often blocked completely, as well as e-retailers for selling books that critique the regime.

Moreover, the Computer-Related Offences Act B.E. 2550 and the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations B.E. 2548 allow Thai officials to block or order to block websites that may alter the Kingdom's security, public order and morals, and other crimes under the Criminal Act, including lèse-majesté crimes. By 2010, OpenNet has reported that 43,908 websites have been blocked. Following the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016, it was reported that censorship reached an unprecedented level, with more than 1,307 sites getting shut down that month alone.

The Computer-Related Offences Act does not provide for a safe harbor for intermediaries and does not make a distinction between different types of intermediaries - all Internet intermediaries are subjected to the same liability.

Section 15 of the Act might be used, however, for a defence in cases when the intermediary is liable. It states that if a service provider intentionally supports or gives consent to offences, it shall be subject to fine or imprisonment.

Thailand currently does not have comprehensive privacy laws.

Under the Thai Civil and Commercial Code, a person who wilfully, negligently, or unlawfully injures the life, body, health, liberty, property or any right of another person has committed a wrongful act and is required to compensate the victim. Disclosure or transfer of data may be considered a wrongful act if it causes damage to the data owner.

Data controllers in specific businesses must maintain an appropriate level of security to protect any stored personal data from unauthorised access. Failure to comply with this requirement normally can result in both imprisonment (from six to 18 months) and monetary penalties (THB5,000 to THB20,000 or around 550,000 USD).

Under section 18 of Thailand's Computer Related Crimes Act, officials are able to order individuals to “decode any person’s computer data” without a court order. At request, individuals must produce data or evidence in an "understandable form", which appears to grant an ability to compel decryption of communications. Furthermore, subsections 18(2) and 18(3) allow officials to compel production of traffic data and userrelated data without built-in privacy safeguards. Additionally, subsections 18(4) through 18(6) similarly allow officials to compel inspection of or production of data from individuals controlling computer data or storage equipment.

The prior written consent of the data owner should be obtained before transferring the data to any third person. Disclosure of data without the consent of the data owner is permissible in very limited circumstances (e.g. pursuant to an order from a government authority or Thai court).

The Council of State recently announced that it is in the process of drafting the Personal Information Protection Act. According to the draft, the Act would require specific consent by the data subject before an overseas transfer is executed.

Thailand does not have any general statutory law governing data protection or privacy. However, the Constitution does recognize the protection of privacy rights and some laws in some specific areas do provide a certain level of protection against any unauthorised collection, processing, disclosure and transfer of personal data.

Generally, Thailand has a very strict business mobility regime. Some consultancy services are allowed by foreigners (such as in legal services), but they are formally considered against the law.

On 13 September 2010, Thailand's Board of Investment made employment of foreign unskilled workers in its projects subject to various conditions such as:
- the promoted company must invest in Thailand for more than 20 years with assets of over 10,000 million Thai Baht (approx. 310,000 USD) and an employment of over 10,000 people
- the project must be an existing one whose corporate tax exemption incentives must have expired and the project requires hiring additional workers
- foreign unskilled workers will not constitute more than 15% of the additional workers hired for the project.
These conditions only apply to the industrial sector.

For intra-corporate transferees (ICT), contractual service suppliers (CSS) and independent service suppliers (CSS) an economic needs test is required. Work permits for ICT employees are considered by the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) which will examine the application according to the shortage of ICT expertise in Thailand.

TOT Public Company Limited is a State-owned enterprise.

Thailand has signed the WTO Reference Paper on Basic Telecommunications without exemptions, but it has yet to complete some of the obligations contained in the Reference Paper, such as a full separation between regulator and operator functions.

The Thai telecommunication market is partially deregulated and liberalized. There are still stat-owned companies in main segments of the market (e.g. TOT) and foreign equity caps exist.

It is reported that Intellectual Property Right (IPR) is not adequately enforced int he country. Moreover, poor coordination among government entities has seen limited improvement despite the launch of the National IPR Center of Enforcement in 2013.

There is no clear provision in Thai legislation on the application of fair use/fair dealing principles. Additionally, there is limited practice of such concepts in the Thai Supreme Court.