Overlapping, unenforceable laws require urgent reform: minister

“This government alone |has passed as many as 465 laws, more than any other government ... but over 100 of these laws are unenforceable in real practice,” he said. 

Paiboon said the inability to enforce legislation was because organic laws or ministerial announcements had not been further elaborated. “Some ministers don’t know how to proceed once a law is published in the Royal Gazette. They don’t know that organic laws from their own ministry are not issued as such,” he said. 

Moves have been made to improve the country’s legislation and several relevant agencies have been set up and assigned the task, but they have barely cooperated with each other, Paiboon said. 

He added that he has wanted to tackle the issue over the past two years, but relevant agencies have never acceded to reform because “interests” were involved. 

Hence, he said, the integration of laws remained a major concern and he hoped the Justice Ministry and other related agencies would work together to push the agenda forward. 

Meanwhile, legal expert Pakorn Nilprapunt, who is also a member of the Constitution Drafting Commission, said the problem lay with Thailand’s law-enforcement methods, which rely largely on government officials and authorities. 

“Relying on the authorities to pass judgement on some cases has to be revised because this practice can plant the seed of corruption,” he said. “For example, charging a garbage collector with violating copyright laws just because he sold some CDs found in the trash shows there is a flaw in the justice system.” 

Laws should also keep up with the changing world, Pakorn said. They need to be constantly revisited to ensure their relevancy, he said, adding that enforcers of the law should also have proper knowledge and understanding when it came to fulfilling their duties. 

He said the charter draft, which will be the subject of a referendum in August, gives importance to key stakeholders including the general public. He added that legislation must include the process of heeding public opinion. 

Pakorn also said the draft charter included content regarding justice and legal reforms that can be realised. The drafters have set deadlines in the draft, requiring implementation with one year of the charter being drafted, he said, adding that the charter specifies that within five years, responsible agencies have to achieve the specified goals or officials will face malpractice proceedings and be removed from office.