Civil society has started to campaign for the Samak government to take heed of the public say in drafting an organic law within this year to govern negotiating procedure of future trade deals.

A hundred member of the FTA Watch alliance rallied in front of the Foreign Ministry yesterday, to kick off 10,000-signature-gathering campaign required for a launch of people-centered legislature governing international trade treaty negotiation.

The activists criticized the process drafting a compulsory organic law in compatible with the 2007 constitution a non-participatory and non-transparent.

The activists handed a NGO-drafted legislation to Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama through deputy head of the Treaties and Legal Affairs Department Rachanan Tananant, who said the Ministry would listen to the voices of all stakeholders and the public should not be worried about any non-transparency.

However, when the activists asked if they could see the government's initial draft if there was any, Mr.Rachanan said he could not provide any detail as the Council of State was considering it before forwarding to the cabinet.

The activists were collecting for a 10,000 signatures to launch a parallel draft to the government. Article 190 of the 2007 constitution said "any treaty, which provides for a change in the Thai territories or extraterritorial areas in which the Kingdom has the sovereign rights or any jurisdiction through treaty or international law, or the Kingdom; is required to enact an Act for implementation of the treaty or has a vast impact on the country's economic and social stability, or has a significant binding effect upon the trade, investment or budget of the country, it shall be approved by the National Assembly."

Prior to action taken for the conclusion of such treaty, the government needed to publicize relevant information, make arrangement for a public hearing on the matter, and provide for a clarification of such a treaty to the parliament, which would endorse the scope of the negotiation.

Even after the signing of a treaty and before an expression of intention to bring the binding effect is made, the government is required to provide the public with an access to the details of the treaty.

In the case where the implementation of such a treaty will affect the people or the small and the medium entrepreneurs, the government has to take actions to provide corrections or remedies to the affected individuals in an expeditious, suitable, and fair manner, the constitution said.

Within a year after the effectiveness of the constitution, there shall be a law governing the setting of the stages and procedure for making a treaty, and the corrections or remedies given to the individuals affected by the implementation of such a treaty, keeping in mind the impartiality between the benefited individuals and the affected individuals from such an implementation as well as the public.