The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) of Thailand has enacted the National Reform Plans and Procedures Act B.E. 2560 (NRPPA) and it was endorsed by H.M. the King on 26 July 2017.  It was published in the Royal Gazette on 31 July 2017 and has become effective on and from 1 August 2017.

The NRPPA requires the national reform to achieve 3 targets, i.e.

1.  The country has peace and order, harmony, sustainable development under the sufficient economy principle, and the balance between material development and spiritual development.
2. The society has peace and happiness, justice and equal opportunities for elimination of wealth disparity.
3. The people have happiness, good life quality and participation in development of the country and administration under the democratic system with the monarchy as the Head of State.

The national reform must conform with and be in the same direction as the National Strategy prepared under the national strategy preparation law.

The national reform plans must be prepared to set out mechanisms, procedures and implementation steps for national reform in each of the 11 sectors and their desired results within a period of time specified in the national reform plan.

The national reform plan for each sector may be made in one master plan or several separate plans provided that each of them must conform with the master plan.  The national reform plans will be effective after publication in the Royal Gazette.

All the state agencies have duties to implement the national reform plans to achieve their goals within the periods of time specified in the national reform plans.  The Cabinet has duties to supervise and support all the state agencies in implementation of the national reform plans.

Each of the national reform plan in the 11 sectors must consist of at least:

(1)    plans, steps and procedures for national reform and objectives in conformity with the objectives specified in the Constitution and the National Strategy;

(2)    specified periods of time to implement the plan in each stage and key performance indicators for each sector;

(3)    state agencies or persons who are responsible for implementation of the national reform plan;

(4)    amount of money expected to be used for implementation of each national reform plan in and projection of sources of funds;

(5)    achievements of national reform implementation expected to achieve in the period of at least 5 years;

(6)    proposal for enactment or amendment of laws necessary for implementation of each national reform plan.

In preparation of national reform plans, urgency of national reform in each sector must be taken into account to determine different phases of national reform and readiness of personnel and national finance must also be considered.

National reform plans must be prepared for each of the following sectors: (1) politics, (2) state administration, (3) legislation, (4) judicial process, (5) education, (6) economy, (7) national resources and environment, (8) public health, (9) mass media and information technology, (10) society, (11) other sectors as the Cabinet may determine.

There must be a national reform committee for each sector to prepare draft of each national reform plan and to do other duties as may be designated by the National Strategy Committee.  The drafting of each national reform plan must be made pursuant to the rules, procedures and conditions determined by the joint meeting of the chairs of all the national reform committees and public hearings and consultations with related state agencies and judicial organizations must be taken into account.

The national reform in each sector must follow the 3 steps:

(1)    The Cabinet must appoint the national reform committees for the 11 sectors.

(2)    The joint meeting of the chairs of the national reform committees must determine rules, procedures and conditions for preparation of national reform plans within 30 days from the appointment date of national reform committees and propose them for the National Strategy Committee to approve within 15 days.

(3)    The drafting of each national reform plan must follow the following process and timeframe:

• Each national reform committee must complete draft of its national reform plan within 90 days after the approval date of the rules, procedures and conditions for preparation of national reform plans, taking into account consultations with relevant state agencies and public hearings where comments or recommendations can be made with convenience and in full based on sufficient information made available to the public.
• After each draft national reform plan has been prepared, it must be proposed to and reviewed by the National Strategy Committee to ensure that they conform with the National Strategy and the Master Plan.  The National Strategy Committee must complete its review within 30 days from date of receipt of the draft plan.
• The National Strategy Committee must propose the reviewed drafts of the national reform plans to the Cabinet for approval within 30 days and then the Cabinet must submit them to the Parliament for acknowledgement before publishing them in the Royal Gazette.

The whole process from (a) to (c) should take around 240 days.