2007 CCA | Draft CCA as of April 2013 |
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| Article ... Whoever commits an offence against the Act, and if the offence is partly committed in Thailand, or if its implication can be felt in Thailand, or if the implication could have been foreseen to happen in Thailand, it is assumed that the offence is committed in the country and the offender shall be brought to justice within Thailand’s jurisprudence. |
Article 17 Whoever commits an offence against this Act outside the Kingdom and; (1) the offender is a Thai national and at the request of the government of the country where the offence has occurred or at the request of the injured party; (2) the offender is a non-Thai and at the request of the Thai government or at the request of the Thai person who is an injured party or any injured party; shall be penalized within the Kingdom. | Article ... Whoever commits an offence against this Act outside the Kingdom and; (1) the offender is a Thai national and at the request of the government of the country where the offence has occurred or at the request of the injured party; (2) the offender is a non-Thai and at the request of the Thai government or at the request of the Thai person who is an injured party or any injured party; shall be penalized within the Kingdom, save for if the offence committed against Article (critical ground) Article…(any information which is an offence against national security) or Article (any information which might compromise national security), no request is necessary, and the offender shall be penalized in Thailand. Content of Article 10 of Penal Code shall be applied mutatis mutandis. |
Normally, Thai law’s jurisdiction covers only the territory of Thailand. Any offence that occurs aboard cannot be tried in Thailand. But in online world, anything is connected. It does not quite matter where a posting is made. Therefore, the ETDA’s Draft CCA intends to expand jurisdiction of CCA to cover an offence which is partly done in Thailand and outside the country as well as in case when its implication takes place in Thailand, or it could be foreseen to take place in Thailand.
For example, a hacker based on USA hacked a computer system in Thailand and the server through which the hacker uses is located in USA. But the hacking’s implication can be felt by websites operating in Thailand. It is an example of how an offence committed abroad can bear implications in the country. The current version of CCA provides that a request has to be made either by the Thai government or the damaged party in order to bring to justice the perpetrator in Thailand. But according to the ETDA’s Draft CCA, it is assumed that the offence actually happens in Thailand, and the offender can be brought to justice here automatically.
And if the offence is concerned with national security, according to the ETDA’s draft law, it is not necessary to obtain any request from the damaged party, and it does not matter if the offence is partly committed here or if its implication could be felt here, the offender can be automatically be brought to justice in Thailand.
