Digital economy bills not for more power, govt says
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THE GOVERNMENT will whittle down the number of "digital economy" bills to nine - from the present 10 - by cancelling the one to set up a Digital for Economy and Society Fund, Information and Communications Technology Minister Pornchai Rujiprapa said.
He added that the government was considering which of the nine bills into which it would merge this fund legislation, and which committees would be assigned to oversee the fund. One possibility is the Digital Economy Committee to be set up by the Digital Economy Bill. It will be chaired by the prime minister.
The military regime has submitted the “digital economy” bills to be examined by the Council of State, which is the government’s legal adviser.
Pornchai denied that these bills were intended to give more power to the government. It will hold a forum to listen to public opinion every Saturday in order to improve these bills, which are expected to come into force by the middle of this year, a delay from the originally expected April.
Many sections of society have urged the government to revisit the bills and allow all stakeholders affected by them – including businesses, the public, state enterprises and independent organisations – to scrutinise them before they become law.
The proposed legislation includes the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) Bill, the Cyber Security Bill, the New Computer Crime Bill, the Personal Data Protection Bill, the Digital Economy Promotion Bill and the Digital Economy Development Fund Bill.
Pornchai added that the ICT Ministry would not change clauses in the NBTC Bill that obliged the consolidation of the commission’s existing telecom and broadcasting committees into one panel, or bills that authorised the government to finalise which spectra should be assigned to state agencies.
