On June 17, 2022, two attorneys in the firm’s corporate and commercial group in Bangkok—Charuwan Charoonchitsathian, partner, and Gvavalin Mahakunkitchareon, associate—were keynote speakers for a special focus session organized by the Thailand office of Plug and Play Tech Center. During the session, Charuwan and Gvavalin walked attendees through the latest legal developments applicable to innovative technologies in the smart cities sector, including: Artificial intelligence (AI), cloud services, and internet of things (IOT); Data protection updates from the recent PDPA public hearings; and Evolving cybersecurity regulations. The Plug and Play Tech Center in Bangkok is the local branch of global startup ecosystem and innovation hub helping entrepreneurs gain access to expertise, guidance, and structural support needed to grow their business. For more information, please see the Plug and Play Tech Center website.

On June 23–24, 2022, two attorneys from Tilleke & Gibbins’ corporate and commercial group—senior associate Nopparat Lalitkomon and associate Thammapas Chanpanich—will attend the HOOK Conference 2022 to lead a session on implementation of and compliance with Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), which came into effect on June 1, 2022. The HOOK Conference 2022 is a Southeast Asian-centric conference on performance marketing, featuring over 25 curated sessions presented by high-profile speakers and attendees from leading companies and organizations across the region. The conference will be held at the Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park. The event will address a wide range of topics, such as industry and technical updates, channels and platforms, data-driven decision-making, marketing considerations in ASEAN, and the role of influencers. To learn more about the event, please visit the conference website.

On June 7, 2022, Tilleke & Gibbins’ Bangkok and Vietnam offices collaborated with other regional members of the Lifesciences Asia-Pacific Network (LAN) to present a webinar on data protection regulations across several Asia-Pacific jurisdictions—particularly in relation to the life sciences and healthcare sector. In the first half of this high-engagement session, Nopparat Lalitkomon, senior associate in the firm’s corporate and commercial group in Bangkok, was joined by top data privacy experts from Australia, China, and Japan as the speakers provided a comprehensive update on key legal developments in personal data protection in each jurisdiction. In the second half of the presentation, Waewpen Piemwichai, senior associate in the firm’s corporate and commercial group in Vietnam, participated in a panel discussion together with the rest of the speakers to compare noteworthy aspects of data privacy laws in Vietnam and other Asia-Pacific jurisdictions, including India. Tilleke & Gibbins is a founding member of LAN, which brings together eight leading life sciences law firms from across the Asia-Pacific region to provide clients with a one-stop shop for support and guidance on legal and regulatory needs across the life sciences sector, covering human, animal, and crop health along with food, animal feed, medical devices, cosmetics, and hazardous substances.

Michael Ramirez, a counsel in Tilleke & Gibbins’ dispute resolution group in Bangkok, will provide the Thailand legal outlook at a Thailand Regional Forum meeting to be held at Sasin School of Management on June 9, 2022. The event will be a special relaunch meeting of the Thailand Regional Forum, an initiative established by Dataconsult some 35 years ago. After a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the forum is restarting with Sasin School of Management as its new home. The Thailand Regional Forum at Sasin plans to hold regular meetings from July onward. The meeting will consist of forecasting panel presentations and roundtable discussions. In addition to Michael’s presentation of the legal outlook for Thailand, other speakers will offer insights into Thailand’s political, risk, economic, and human resources outlook in the coming year. Following the presentations, the speakers and attendees will participate in a roundtable discussions and Q&A to address any questions that came up during the session and to consider various potential scenarios. For more information on the Thailand Regional Forum, which offers memberships on a corporate basis, please see the Dataconsult website.