The Cabinet approved a bill on Tuesday which aims to amend the Act Governing Offenses Arising from the Use of Cheques (the Cheque Act), by decriminalising the issuing of bad cheques in most circumstances.

Government spokesman Chai Wacharonke said that the cabinet’s decision is in line with Section 77 of the Constitution, which states that criminal penalties are meant for serious offences and must be in line with international principles of the rights of the people and political rights, namely that a person should not be imprisoned simply because they have defaulted on debt repayments.

He said that the Thai Bankers Association (TBA) agrees, in principle, that people who bounce cheques should not be subject to criminal penalties, but raised reservations over abrogating the entire Cheque Act, noting that civil proceedings to recover payments associated with bounced cheques are time consuming and may be unfair to creditors.

According to Chai, the TBA has proposed that criminal liability should be retained for bad cheques if it can be proved that they were issued dishonestly by debtors with an intent not to pay.

The TBA also proposed that creditors who have problem with bounced cheques can submit information to the Credit Bureau or to the banks of the debtors, so punitive action can be taken, if it can be proved that they had no intention of making the payment.

The punitive actions include increasing fines for bouncing cheques or prohibiting the debtors in question from issuing cheques for up to three years, said Chai.