The 2017 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand clearly states in Section 77 Paragraph 2 that “[p]rior to the enactment of every law, the State should conduct consultation with stakeholders, analyze any impacts that may occur from the law thoroughly and systematically, and should also disclose the results of the consultation and analysis to the public, and take them into consideration at every stage of the legislative process.” This statement reflects one of the main purposes of this constitution in applying the idea and process of public consultation and regulatory impact assessment (RIA) as a mechanism in order to improve the efficiency of the legislative process. The application of such an idea and process is in according with the concept of “good regulation” or “better regulation” that almost democratic governments around the world widely accept and use as a necessary requirement in the legislative process. Findings presented in this paper are the outcomes of the research project aiming to explore and draw a lesson learned from the experiences in conducting a public consultation process of foreign countries and Thailand in the past. The main objective made in the said project is to create a set of knowledge for developing a model for conducting a public consultation process in Thailand according to Section 77 Paragraph 2 of the current constitution.
Lessons learned from European Union, United Kingdom, and United States reveals that the legislative process that implements the process of public consultation at all stages can legitimize the laws and regulations after enactment. However, in the case of Thailand, even though the attempts to develop the public consultation forums when drafting a bill or initiating public policies have long been paid attention by several Thai governments, many problems and obstacles could be observed in almost the procedures, for example, in the stages of planning, preparing, stakeholders analysis, selecting methods of receiving opinions and suggestions from involved persons, writing a report, evaluation, and sharing experiences with other organizations. Moreover, the aim of resolving such problems and obstacles after the promulgation of the constitution’s Section 77 Paragraph 2 by suggesting all state agencies to follow the guideline for conducting public consultation through the government’s website (www.lawamendment.go.th) was not firmly successful.
Findings as mentioned above confirm that the success implementation of public consultation requires the participatory process that aims to achieve real engagement and real listening to the voice of all involved persons. In conducting a public consultation process, identification of stakeholders and methods appropriate to get the information needed from those with a clear interest in the issue are necessary. Accessing to the public consultation process of those target groups should be opened with minimal limitation. In addition, the public consultation process must gain systematic support from the government and other involved public bodies in order to build confidence of all stakeholders and involved persons in the way that the public consultation is conducted and outcomes of such a process. Thus, this study suggests the Thai government to do the two following tasks that are necessary for successful public consultation. First, the government should set up a central agency to support, supervise, monitor, and develop the process of receiving comments to the draft law under the concept of public consultation. This agency may be under the supervision of the Prime Minister or the Cabinet, and should have freedom and flexibility in organizational management. Second, the government should formulate guidelines for responsible agencies to prepare or improve the law, organize the process of hearing opinions to the draft law in line with the concepts and principles of public consultation.