Following the enactment of Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) in May 2019, Tilleke & Gibbins’ well-regarded technology industry group—co-headed by Certified Information Privacy Professional/Asia, Athistha (Nop) Chitranukroh—was quickly labelled the go-to advisor in Thailand to assist companies with obtaining compliance with the country’s new data privacy and cybersecurity regulations.
Rising to this role, Tilleke & Gibbins has been engaged by the global entities of an impressive list of companies to provide data mapping, gap analyses, PDPA trainings, and prepare data-related documentation (e.g., privacy policies, consent forms, data transfer agreements, and data breach guidelines and notifications, among others) in relation to Thailand’s new law. Due to our outstanding work in Thailand, we’ve also received instructions to handle several regional data privacy and cybersecurity projects.
Nop, together with her PDPA team, was also appointed by both the Thai Life Assurance Association and Thai General Insurance Association to advise on the drafting and implementation of industry guidelines for compliance with the PDPA. Through this appointment Tilleke & Gibbins is effectively entrusted by the entire insurance market in Thailand to impart extensive experience and understanding of the local insurance and data privacy (technology) practices to pave the way for PDPA compliance for all life and non-life insurers operating in the jurisdiction. Notably, Tilleke & Gibbins is the only law firm in Thailand that has been appointed by the local insurance associations to undertake this massive PDPA compliance project for the industry—an instruction which is reflective of the firm’s market-leading position as recognized by local regulators and insurers alike.
Similar to the GDPR, Thailand’s PDPA has far-reaching effects across multiple aspects of nearly every business in the jurisdiction. Additionally, enforcement of the new law is expected to be taken seriously and comes with severe financial penalties and even imprisonment. The extensive data privacy knowledge of our Technology Industry Team, coupled with the numerous industry experts across the firm’s full-service practices, have set our firm apart from others in the jurisdiction offering PDPA advisory services and have proven to be vital in solving our clients’ data privacy issues and concerns.
