New data protection portal launched by digital economy ministry

The Government Platform for PDPA Compliance, or GDPC, was launched on Wednesday. The platform makes it faster and more efficient for government agencies to handle personal data in compliance with the new law, ministry officials told the about 200 government officials who attended the launch.

It also links the agencies directly with the Personal Data Protection Commission, allowing its officials to monitor whether agencies are complying with the law.

Minister of Digital Economy and Society Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said the portal was built to ensure compliance with the new law, which requires data controllers, including government agencies, to protect people’s data and notify them of any breaches. It also includes penalties for failures to comply with it.

The law specifies how data controllers and processors, including both public and private entities, must obtain consent from data subjects prior to processing, collecting, or disclosing personal data.

Personal Data Protection Commission secretary-general, Siwaruk Siwamogsatham said government agencies are identified as data controllers under the law.

Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn

Chaiwut said the new centralised portal would reduce government spending because every government agency can use it. He said that it would cost about 5 billion baht if every government agency had to set up its own system to comply with the data protection law. The portal unveiled today cost about 200 million baht, he said.

This includes the cost of installation, offline and online training and the creation of a help desk to resolve issues, the minister said.

Wisit Wisitsora-at, permanent secretary at the ministry, said the ministry aimed to link more than 200 government agencies to the portal, and train more than 2,000 officials how to use it, by September.

Wisit explained that the Personal Data Protection Commission came up with the idea for the portal but lacked the capacity to implement the project. As a result, the ministry will assist the commission for nine months. The commission will then take over the project.