GUIDELINES ON COMPLIANCE WITH EUROPEAN PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION LAWS FOR TOURISM AUTHORITY OF THAILAND (TAT) OVERSEAS OFFICES

Abstract

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has established several overseas offices across Europe to achieve its objective of promoting Thai tourism. Each TAT office engages in activities involving the processing of personal data of the data subjects residing in European countries, which means these offices are subject to each country’s personal data protection laws. This article is based on research study that aims to examines the characteristics of personal data processing activities of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in the Paris office (Republic of France), the Frankfurt office (Federal Republic of Germany), the Rome office (Republic of Italy), the Stockholm office (Kingdom of Sweden) and the London office (United Kingdom) with a view to creating data mapping for each office. Then, this research explores the personal data protection laws in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the UK in order to provide the appropriate and effective practices for each office to ensure compliance with personal data protection laws, thereby reducing the risk of legal liability and penalties that could potentially have a negative impact on TAT and Thailand as a whole.