Search results : 20

On 14 February 2023, the “People’s Power” movement, an offshoot of the “Georgian Dream” ruling party, submitted a draft law “on the transparency of foreign influence”. According to the bill, a register of foreign-influenced agents would be created by the Ministry of Justice, which would “monitor” the activity of such agents. Liability for a failure to register or present relevant declarations would entail a fine of 25,000 Lari (about EUR 8 900). Article 2 of the draft law considered that “agents of foreign influence”...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found a violation of the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), on account of the administrative‑offence proceedings and the resulting sanctions for disseminating images on social media and on the packaging of condoms deemed by the domestic courts in Georgia to be unethical advertising. The ECtHR found no demonstration of the existence of a pressing social need to interfere with the advertising and it considered the prioritisation of views on ethics of the members of the Georgian Orthodox Church...

In a case about access to information, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) clarified that the right to freedom of expression and information, as guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), is only applicable when a set of conditions are fulfilled. The case of Studio Monitori and Others v. Georgia is one of the cases following the judgment of the Grand Chamber in Magyar Helsinki Bizottság v. Hungary (IRIS 2017-1/1) to test the limits of the right of access to public documents and the applicability of Article 10 ECHR (see also Bubon v. Russia, 7 February,...

In October 2017 and March 2018, the Georgian Parliament adopted a de-facto new Constitution of Georgia. Among numerous changes, the text provides for some significant changes in the foundations of media regulation in the country. In particular, the current Article 24 of the Constitution, that proclaims freedom of information, freedom of mass media, a ban on censorship and a ban on the state or individuals monopolising the mass media or communication means, has been transformed into new Article 17 (“Freedom of thought, information, mass media and Internet”). It contains a new paragraph that promulgates,...

On 12 July 2013, the Georgian Parliament overturned the presidential veto on the bill providing amendments to the law on broadcasting, which envisages measures for more financial transparency of broadcasters, reforming the rule of composition of public TV’s board of trustees and transforming Adjara TV’s status into that of a public broadcaster. The presidential objections concerning the bill, originally passed by the Parliament on 31 May 2013, mainly concerned a provision that envisages giving the legislature the right to disband the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s (GPB) board of trustees in the...