Mr. Phuchphong Nodthaisong, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES), as acting Secretary General of Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC), said: “The policy and goal of MDES is to reinforce the solid practices of personal data protection in Thailand since it is the cornerstone of digital economy development as well as cybersecurity strength. This seminar co-hosted by PAPC, SEC, Faculty of Law, CU, FPTI and ACIOA shows the vigorous sign that all sectors place importance to and recognize benefits of personal data protection. In addition, the first “PDPA Award 2020” on personal data protection will send a positive signal to motivate organizations to take up this matter with utmost care like what they have already done in context of good governance.”  

Ms Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, Secretary-General of SEC, stated: “SEC gives high priority to personal data protection and urges all SEC’s regulated entities as well as related parties to be informed and to pay attention to the importance of personal data protection in order to boost public confidence and trustworthiness in Thai capital market. In addition, SEC has prepared our organization to make sure that the personal data management is compliance with PDPA by creating Data Governance Policy and Guidelines for personal data protection management throughout the data life cycle. Moreover, SEC has prepared for the readiness of our people and techniques by using new technology with international standards to ensure that our personal data management and protection be in accordance with the laws. Previously, on 8 December 2020, SEC and Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University had signed MOU on academic cooperation for personal data development to enhance the level of personal data protection for workforces in capital market as well as to organize seminar regarding personal data protection for them.”  

Assistant Professor Dr. Parena Sriwanit, Dean of Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University noted: “Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University realizes the importance of PDPA by continuing develop the practical guideline for three consecutive year which now known as TDPG3.0. It is currently a reference guidelines for most enterprises and public. Also, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University works in cooperation with Office of the Permanent Secretary of MDES which currently acting as Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) and SEC to develop knowledge in this area and build up the better understanding and practice. The successful outcome thereof has been witnessed by more understanding in the society that the Act does not prohibit the use of personal data. The law, however, requires the party that obtains the personal data of others to explain to the owner of such data how that data will be used and what measures it will be taken to safeguard the safety of such data. This guideline contributes to real practice. Besides, there are organizations that received awards from such practices in this year event.” 

Assistant Professor Dr. Athisan Vayupap, Director of the National Productivity Institute, added: “Thailand Productivity Institute (FPTI) is the national institute responsible for driving and supporting all sectors to enhance their level of efficiency and increase their level of competitiveness. We believe that this seminar will heighten the organization’s awareness and provide organization with essence knowledge in preparing before the law on personal data protection comes into force. In this regard, we has developed framework on FPTI PDPA Model as a tool for organization to incorporate PDPA into its working processes systematically and intelligibly in order to prevent risks from violation of the laws and to gain trust from customers and business partners.” 

Mr. Chaicharoen Atiphat, President of the ASEAN CIO Association (ACIOA) said: “Public Private Partnership (PPP) is an important mechanism, especially when the government enacted a new law, such as this Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562. In this regard, the examples, lessons, processes, and guidance on how to comply with the law should be published using the simplify and precise language that stakeholders will easily understand. These communication tools will surely benefit for organizations and public. Also, all of us must be more cautious about asking, sharing, using, keeping, or destroying of personal data. I believe that 1 year after the effective of the law, stakeholders of each organizations will learn and improve their compliance with the law. However, it is undesirable to leave the progress of learning and improvement being done individually and because the new law requires the appointment of Data Protection Officer (DPO) in every organization, ACIOA, therefore, provided initial support on the establishment of Thai DPO association as a forum for DPO to share experiences, lesson learned and shortcut with each other.” 

This seminar is the product of cooperation between (1) ASEAN CIO ASSOCIATION (ACIOA), (2) Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Economy and Society, as acting PDPA, (3) Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University, (4) Thailand Productivity Institute (FPTI), and (5) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an academic supporter. The objective of this seminar is to raise awareness of government and private sectors in protecting personal data, to encourage government and private sectors to work up their readiness before the effective of Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 on 1 June 2021, and to build the cooperation and exchanges of information among personal data officers (PDO) which will be an important foundation for developing Thai practice standard in personal data protection and make it equivalent to international standard.

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