The Cabinet has approved in principle the draft bill for a new Official Information Act that will allow an equal access to information by Thais and foreigners alike.
Government spokesman Puttipong Punnakan on Monday said that the proposed bill was sent to the Cabinet by the Office of the Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister Office.
The draft bill requires state agencies to arrange and provide official information for public access without people having to file a request, he said.
It also requires each agency to create an official information committee tasked with setting up a system for the public release of official information, screening individual information requests filed with the agency, setting related guidelines.
It also requires that criteria be set to protect personal information contained in official information from being revealed via inter-agency electronic systems, revises the roles and duties of the official information committees, and allows those who disagree with the committee’s rulings to appeal the decision to the Supreme Administrative Court.
