“Vayo” reveals “Black-chinned tilapia” can only take legal action against importers in civil court

Parliament, "Vayo", Chairman of the Subcommittee on Solving the "Black-chinned Tilapia" Problem, reveals progress in taking legal action against importers only in civil court, preparing to call in related private parties to provide additional clarification. Dr. Vayo Atsawarungruang, MP of the Move Forward Party and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Studying Causes and Solutions, Including Impacts of Importing Black-chinned Tilapia for Research and Development of Species in the Kingdom of Thailand, announced the conclusions of the discussions in the meeting on lawsuits in various cases, which can be divided into criminal cases, civil cases, and administrative cases. Some sectors have already filed lawsuits against the Department of Fisheries in administrative cases. Today, there are additional comments by comparing the law in 1947, which was enforced in 2010-2011, with the Fisheries Act, which was enforced in 2015. Section 36 of the Fisheries Act states that if permission is granted but the conditions are not f ollowed, the license will be revoked. However, the license is separate from the one that states the conditions for importing Black-chinned Tilapia. The Office of the Council of State stated that if the papers are on different sheets but the matter is the same with the same content, they must be considered together. Therefore, the issue arose as to whether the Fisheries Department complied with Section 36 of the Fisheries Act of 1947 or not. In the matter of the private company not collecting the fins and returning the fish jars to the Fisheries Department, further processes may have to be carried out because it is uncertain whether the conditions specify a time limit or not. Dr. Vayo continued that all parties agreed that criminal cases may not be prosecuted, but civil cases may be prosecuted, divided into 2 parts: the Department of Local Administration can sue private companies for torts that cause damage, and the other part is a direct lawsuit against the state, according to the Environmental Protection A ct of 1992, which states that if anyone causes damage to the environment or natural resources, they must pay full compensation to the state. The Department of Coastal Resources has participated in surveying the damage and will proceed with legal action. Dr. Vayo said that the subcommittee has invited private companies to provide clarification for the third time. This time, the Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Committee has issued an invitation letter itself. There has been no letter of leave from the meeting. It is expected that the private companies will provide clarification at the meeting today. Source: Thai News Agency