Origin of the establishment of the Ethics Section, Department of Water Resources.
Following the Civil Service Commission's letter No. NR 1019/85 dated November 15, 2021, informing about the guidelines for establishing an ethics working group in accordance with the Ethics Standards Committee's regulations on the criteria for preparing the code of ethics, ethical requirements and ethical maintenance processes of government agencies and officials, B.E. 2020, Section 18, together with the requirements on ethical maintenance processes: mechanisms and enforcement of the Civil Servant Code of Ethics, Sections 4 (2) and 11, the guidelines for establishing an ethics working group have been clarified as follows:
Clause 1. In cases where a government agency has established an Ethics Protection Working Group under the old Civil Servant Code of Ethics, the name shall be changed to Ethics Working Group.
Clause 2 stipulates that it is the duty of the head of the government agency to implement the requirements of the ethical conduct process. The head of the agency may consider assigning responsibility for the ethical conduct of civil servants, government employees, staff, and other personnel within the agency to a deputy head of the agency. Furthermore, the head of the agency may designate a number of personnel to perform this duty in accordance with the requirements of the ethical conduct process, initially considering the allocation of 2-5 positions to establish a staffing framework appropriate to the mission, context, and environmental factors of each government agency, or may assign specific officers to perform this task to ensure efficient implementation.
The Department of Water Resources therefore issued Order No. 7/2565, dated January 11, 2022, concerning the establishment of the Ethics Working Group of the Department of Water Resources. This group was established as an internal unit within the Department of Water Resources, reporting directly to the Director-General of the Department of Water Resources. The Deputy Director-General assigned to oversee the Ethics Working Group is designated as the Head of the Ethics Working Group and the supervisor of the staff within the group.
Subsequently, due to the restructuring of the Department of Water Resources' mission, duties, and powers, as well as its subordinate agencies, in accordance with the Ministerial Regulation on the Division of Government Agencies within the Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, B.E. 2565 (2022), published in the Royal Gazette, Volume 139, Section 61 A, dated October 3, 2022, the Department of Water Resources issued Order No. 546/2565, dated November 9, 2022, concerning the establishment of internal units within the Department of Water Resources. These units include the Ethics Working Group, the Inspection Working Group, the Legal Affairs Working Group, and the Office of Water Resources Region 11. The Ethics Working Group (abbreviated as EGM) is an internal unit within the Department of Water Resources, reporting directly to the Director-General of the Department of Water Resources. The Deputy Director-General assigned to oversee the Ethics Working Group serves as the Head of the Ethics Working Group and is the supervisor of the staff within the group. The Head of the Department's Inspectorate and the Department Secretary serve as the first and second Deputy Heads of the Ethics Working Group, respectively, etc.
