Criminal Procedure Measures Extended to Compensate for Forensic Physician Shortage
The Royal Decree Extending the Period of Enforcement of Section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Code (No. 21) B.E. 2542 (1999) B.E. 2565 (2022) shall become enforceable on January 1st, 2023, and remain in force until December 31st, 2027. This extension permits provincial public health office officials and hospital officials who have passed forensic training to jointly conduct initial post-mortems in place of physicians. Permitting officials to conduct initial assessments is necessitated by a physician shortage, especially amongst forensic physicians.
Officials cannot perform post-mortems in all circumstances but are limited to deaths caused by an animal, accident, or unknown cause. A physician must assess deaths by suicide or another person’s actions.
Repealing Unnecessary or Repetitive Laws in 2022
The Act Abrogating Certain Laws which Are No Longer Necessary or Repetitive with Other Laws B.E. 2565 (2022) was published on July 18th, 2022, and enforceable the following day. The Act repeals a series of laws due to lack of necessity or redundancy. The affected laws are as follows:
1. Act Managing Training of Certain Groups of Children B.E. 2479 (1933)
2. Act Managing Training of Certain Groups of Children (No. 2) B.E. 2501 (1958)
3. Royal Proclamation Controlling and Operating Transactions of Gold Mines B.E. 2483 (1943)
4. Electricity Business Promotion Act B.E. 2484 (1944)
5. Act Prescribing Procedures for Persons Disseminating News Damaging Good Relations between Thailand and Countries with Treaty of Amity with Thailand during War Time B.E. 2488 (1945)
6. Act Prescribing Procedures Eliminating Profiteering from Government Agencies B.E. 2491 (1948)
7. CD Products Production Control Act B.E. 2548 (2005)
These laws are no longer necessary, currently enforced, or have become redundant due to subsequently enacted laws. These laws have therefore been repealed for efficient law enforcement.