ประชาพิจารณ์ตามกฎหมายไทยเปรียบเทียบกับกฎหมายอังกฤษ / ทิพาพันธุ์ ศรพิทักษ์ = Public hearings : a comparative study of Thai and English law / Tipapan Sonpitak
This thesis seeks to explore rules and procedures for public consultation by means of public hearing under section 59 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, B.E. 2540 (1997). For this purpose, laws, draft laws, rules, regulations and notifications pertinent to public consultation are examined. Problems and obstacles emerging from public consultation in Thailand are also investigated and discussed. However, the study is limited to a comparison of the legal position in Thailand with public enquiries under the law of the United Kingdom in order that such foreign experience can shed light on how to work out appropriate public hearings in accordance with the spirit of the 1997 Constitution. This thesis reveals that the concepts regarding public consultation have found their existence in 3 pieces of legislation in force, viz, the Industrial Product Standards Act, B.E. 2511 (1968), the Act on Land Reform for Agricultural Purposes, B.E. 2517 (1974), and the Town Planning Act, B.E. 2518 (1975). However, neither of these 3 Acts has prescribed forms of public consultation. In 1996, there has been promulgated the Rule of the Office of the Prime Minister on Public Consultation by means of Public Hearing, B.E. 2539 (1996), with a result that public consultation by public hearing in Thailand must be conducted in accordance with the rules and procedures set forth by the said Rule of the Office of the Prime Minister. Indeed, this Rule is, in status, subordinate legislation and, in addition, conducting a public hearing under this Rule is fraught with various difficulties: the problem involving organs and officials in charge of a public hearing: the problem concerning persons participating in a public hearing; and the problem central to officials with authority to make decisions on a public hearing. The present 1997 Constitution, in its section 59, recognizes the right to participate in public consultation but no specific law has, to date, been enacted to implement this constitutional right, with the consequence that this right cannot be exercised by the public in a practical sense. It is thus recommended that a new Act be enacted in the implementation of section 59 of the 1997 Constitution and, in this connection, there should be adapted to public hearings in Thailand the following rules and procedures for public enquiries under the law of the United Kingdom: publicity; provision of information on the matter to which a public enquiry relates; a public enquiry committee, the setting up of a specific body to serve as secretariat; the requirement of reasoning by decisionmakers; and, finally, the disclosure of a public enquiry report.
