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On 18 March, the Georgian Parliament adopted, in the second reading, a law on the registration of foreign agents, which, according to the Georgian authorities, would be a literal translation into Georgian of the US FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act). The new law will complement the Law of Georgia "On transparency of foreign influence", which entered into force in 2024 (for more information on the Law of Georgia "On transparency of foreign influence", see: IRIS 2023-4:1/30, IRIS 2024-5:1/16, and IRIS 2024-6:1/13). While the 2024 law operates with the notion of an “organisation...

Despite objections by the European institutions, including the Venice Commission, despite mass protests in the capital and a veto by the country’s president, on 28 May 2024, the Georgian Parliament finally enforced the bill "On transparency of foreign influence" (the Law) which had been tabled by the ruling party “Georgian Dream” on 3 April 2024 and was strongly supported by the government (for more information, see: IRIS 2023-4:1/30 and IRIS 2024-5:1/16). The Law was rushed through (very little time separated the three readings in parliament), with no meaningful consultation...

Following a failure to adopt the bill "On transparency of foreign influence" in March 2023 (see IRIS 2023-4:1/30 ), on 14 May 2024, the Parliament of Georgia adopted, in the third and final reading, a slightly amended version of the draft law tabled by the ruling party “Georgian Dream” and supported by the Government. The draft replaced the term “agent of foreign influence” with “organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” All other parts of the draft law remain unchanged. One of the four categories of such organisations, according to the...

The Parliament of Georgia has adopted amendments in the 2005 broadcasting law (see: IRIS 2013-8:1/23) that would soon change the method of funding the country's national and regional public broadcasters. Currently, the law stipulates that Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) is to obtain at least 0.14% of the national GDP. With the dramatic growth of the Georgian GDP since 2022, the funding for GPB has jumped from GEL 69.6 million in 2021 to 110.3 million (or EUR 38.2 million) in 2024. The note to the bill explained the proposed change by saying that the current increase has not been conditioned...

On 22 December 2022, the national Parliament of Georgia adopted a draft law “On amendments to the law on broadcasting”. The 2004 law has been amended several times (see IRIS 2005-7/24, IRIS 2011-10:1/22, IRIS 2013-8:1/23); this time the amendments were aimed at achieving compliance of the Georgian legislation with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). Most of the amendments relate to the definitions of the key notions of the law, including the activity of the audiovisual (AV) media regulatory authority, the “authorisation” procedures for activities in the...