Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has asked the Council of State to examine the Alcohol Control Act and advise him before he makes a makes decision on whether to ban alcohol during the Songkran celebration next month.
The Council of State is expected to give its opinion this week.
Members of the National Committee on Alcohol Consumption Control will then meet and make a recommendation to the prime minister.
There are conflicts between the Act and the coupmakers' regulation which allows the sale of alcoholic beverages from 11am to 2pm, and from 5pm to midnight. The Act gives the alcohol policy committee authority to ban alcohol sales on specific days.
The prime minister said he expected a decision would be made,one way or another, in time for the Songkran holiday.
The Public Health Ministry proposed a ban on alcohol sales during Songkran, from April 12 to 14, with two options.
First option is to ban the sale of alcohol everywhere during the entire period, and the second to ban sales at stores but allow restaurants, pubs and hotels with an Excise Department permits to serve alcohol from 6pm to midnight.
But Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa and Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra opposed the ban, saying it would discourage tourists from visiting Thailand during the country's most renowned festival.
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