Foreword

With the achievement of the OECD Integrity Review of Thailand 2021 – Phase 2, Thailand has become the first country in Asia-Pacific completing a full review of the key pillars of the country’s public integrity system. This demonstrates the Government of Thailand’s continued commitment to investing in public integrity and sharing practices and expertise with OECD countries. The Review was conducted by the Directorate for Public Governance through a series of consultations with the Thai stakeholders, and is part of the Thailand-OECD Country Programme and the Directorate’s broader work programme on public sector integrity. Tackling corruption in the public sector and building transparent and accountable public institutions fosters investment, encourages competition, and improves government efficiency. The policy recommendations in this Integrity Review not only seek to bolster Thailand’s integrity system, but also to promote public trust and ensure that the country can continue down a path of sustained economic growth.

In recent years, the Government of Thailand has continued to strengthen efforts to mitigate corruption risks in the public sector and to implement the 20-year Anti-Corruption Master Plan (2017-2036), guided by the 20-year National Strategy (2018-2037), the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, Phase Three (2017-2021), and the 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2017-2021). Moreover, in follow-up of the recommendations of OECD Integrity Review of Thailand – Phase 1, Thailand has recently improved its institutional co-ordination and measurement frameworks on corruption prevention and has streamlined the institutional mandates for corruption investigations.

This Integrity Review – Phase 2 deepens the analysis on three key elements of Thailand’s integrity system, namely disciplinary mechanisms and sanctions, risk management, and integrity in policy and decision making in the public sector. It provides recommendations in line with international good practices and the 2017 OECD Recommendation of the Council on Public Integrity, such as ensuring coherence in its disciplinary processes, strengthening corruption risk management practices, and improving the regulatory framework for interactions between public and private sectors.

Under the direction and oversight of Elsa Pilichowski, Director for Public Governance, and Julio Bacio Terracino, Acting Head of the Public Sector Integrity Division, this review was co-ordinated by Jeroen Michels, and the chapters have been written by Jeroen Michels, Pelagia Patsoule, Mariana Prats, and Gavin Ugale. The report greatly benefitted from the insights and comments from Julio Bacio Terracino, Frédéric Boehm, Pauline Bertrand, and Jelena Damnjanovic. The review was prepared for publication by Meral Gedik, Balazs Gyimesi and Andrea Uhrhammer. Aleksandra Bogusz, Jelena Damnjanovic, Rania Haidar, and Charles Victor provided valuable administrative assistance.

The OECD expresses its gratitude to the Government of Thailand, and in particular, to the Office of Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC) and the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) for their support and inputs throughout the project. This review also significantly benefited from the comments provided by the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC), the Office of the Auditor General, and the Secretariat of the Cabinet. Particular appreciation goes to all the participants who actively engaged in debates and provided valuable insights during the fact-finding mission in Bangkok on 11-13 December 2019. This review also benefitted from the valuable input of the officials from OPDC, PACC, and the Secretariat of the Cabinet during their time at the OECD on the secondment programme in 2020.

This document was approved by the OECD Working Party of Senior Public Integrity Officials (SPIO) on 21 April 2021 and declassified by the Public Governance Committee on 21 May 2021. It was prepared for publication by the OECD Secretariat.