LAW OF GEORGIA ON TRANSPARENCY OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE

 

 

LAW OF GEORGIA

ON TRANSPARENCY OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE

 

Article 1 – Purpose and scope of the Law

1. In order to ensure the transparency of foreign influence, this Law regulates the registration of an entity as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power and other issues related to the transparency of activities of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power.

2. This Law shall not restrict the activities of an entity registered under this Law as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power.

 

Article 2 – Organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power

1. For the purposes of this Law, an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power shall be:

a) a non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal person that is not established by an administrative body, that is not the National Sports Federation of Georgia as provided for by the Law of Georgia on Sports, or a blood establishment as provided for by the Law of Georgia on the Quality and Safety of Human Blood and Its Components, and the source of more than 20 % of the total income of which during a calendar year is a foreign power;

b) a broadcaster provided for by the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting, the source of more than 20 % of the total non-commercial income of which during a calendar year is a foreign power;

c) a legal person, which alone or jointly owns print media operating in Georgia, and the source of more than 20 % of the total non-commercial income of which during a calendar year is a foreign power;

d) a legal person, which alone or jointly owns and/or uses a domain and/or web hosting designated for digital media disseminating mass information in the official language of Georgia, and the source of more than 20 % of the total non-commercial income of which during a calendar year is a foreign power.

2. For the purposes of this Article, income is a sum of money or other tangible goods of tangible value (any movable or immovable thing). The value of income that is not a sum of money shall, for the purposes of this Article, be calculated at its market price.

3. It shall be considered, for the purposes of paragraph 1 of this article, that a respective entity determined by the same paragraph received income if the entity was provided with a sum of money or became the owner or user of other tangible goods of tangible value (any movable or immovable thing).

4. It shall be considered, for the purposes of paragraph 1 of this article, that the source of income received by the respective entity determined by the same paragraph is a foreign power, if:

a) the entity received income directly or indirectly from a foreign power;

b) the entity received income directly or indirectly from a legal person, which had received income directly or indirectly from a foreign power;

c) the source of such income has not been identified.

 

Article 3 – Foreign power

For the purposes of this Law, a foreign power is:

a) an entity within the government system of a foreign state;

b) a natural person who is not a citizen of Georgia;

c) a legal person that has not been established under the legislation of Georgia;

d) an organisational entity (including a foundation, an association, a corporation, a union, or other type of organisation) or other form of association of persons, which has been established under the law of a foreign state and/or international law.

 

Article 4 – Registration of an entity as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power

1. An entity that meets the criteria determined for an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power under Article 2 of this Law shall, in January of the calendar year following the year during which it met these criteria, submit to the Legal Entity under Public Law (LEPL) called the National Agency of Public Registry operating under the governance of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia (‘the Agency’), through the LEPL Public Service Hall, a written application, in tangible form, regarding registration as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power. In this case, the Agency shall, within 2 working days, grant the said entity access to the appropriate website, so that the entity is able to fill in electronically a statement for registration as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power (‘the statement’) in observance of the form established by the Minister of Justice of Georgia, and submit it to the Agency.

2. The entity shall, within 10 working days after being granted access to the website provided for by paragraph 1 of this article, fill in the statement electronically, in observance of the form established by the Minister of Justice of Georgia, and submit it to the Agency.

3. The registrant shall provide the following information (if any) in the statement, which is at the same time the registrant’s financial declaration:

a) the registrant’s identification data;

b) the address of the registrant’s location;

c) the registrant’s website address;

d) information about the source, amount and purpose of any sum of money and other tangible goods of tangible value received by the registrant during the preceding calendar year;

e) information about the amount and purpose of any sum of money spent by the registrant during the preceding calendar year;

f) the date of filling in the statement.

4. A person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall, within 30 working days after the submission of the statement to the Agency, examine and inquire into the statement. For this purpose, the said person shall have the right to obtain the necessary information in compliance with law, including the data provided for by Article 3(b) of the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection, other personal data, and information containing a secret (except for a state secret as provided for by the legislation of Georgia). All persons, bodies, organisations, and institutions, which are requested by a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia to submit such information, shall immediately provide him/her with such information that is available to them. If the registrant meets the criteria established in Article 2 of this Law for organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power, and the statement is correctly and completely filled in, the Agency shall, within 30 working days after the statement has been submitted to it, register the registrant as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power and enter its registration in the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power. If the statement is filled in incorrectly and/or incompletely, the Agency shall determine a timeframe of 10 working days for the registrant to remedy the shortcoming. The registrant is obliged to remedy the shortcoming within the said timeframe. If the registrant meets the criteria established in Article 2 of this Law for organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power, the Agency shall, within 5 working days after the expiry of the said timeframe, register the registrant as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power, and enter its registration in the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power.

5. The registration of an entity as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power and the entry of its registration in the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power shall be free of charge.

6. The rules for the registration of an entity as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power, and for keeping the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power, as well as the form of the statement, shall be determined by the Minister of Justice of Georgia.

 

Article 5 – Ensuring public access to the statements, other relevant documents, and the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power

1. The statement and the application provided for in Article 4(1) of this Law shall be public. Upon the registration of an entity as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power, the Agency shall publish on the respective website and make publicly available the statement submitted by the entity to the Agency, the application provided for in Article 4(1) of this Law, the valid statute of the entity, if any, other instruments of incorporation of the entity and its latest extract from the Public Registry.

2. The information entered in the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power shall be public. The Agency shall publish such information on the respective website and make it publicly available.

 

Article 6 – Annual financial declaration

1. An entity registered as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power shall, in January of each year following the year of its registration as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power, electronically fill in a financial declaration in observance of the form approved by the Minister of Justice of Georgia, and submit it to the Agency. The entity shall include in the financial declaration correct and complete information (if any) as determined by Article 4(3) of this Law as of the year preceding the year of its submission to the Agency. A person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall, within 30 working days after the submission of the financial declaration to the Agency, examine and inquire into the said financial declaration. For this purpose, the said person shall have the right to obtain the necessary information in compliance with law, including the data provided for by Article 3(b) of the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection, other personal data, and information containing a secret (except for a state secret as provided for by the legislation of Georgia). All persons, bodies, organisations, and institutions, which are requested by a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia to submit such information, shall immediately provide him/her with such information that is available to them. If a financial declaration is filled in incorrectly and/or incompletely, the Agency shall determine a timeframe of 10 working days for the entity submitting the financial declaration to remedy the shortcoming. The entity is obliged to remedy the shortcoming within the said timeframe.

2. A financial declaration as referred to in paragraph 1 of this article, and the information contained in it, shall be public. The Agency shall immediately publish the financial declaration on the respective website and make it publicly available.

3. The procedure for submitting a financial declaration provided for by this article, and the form of the financial declaration, shall be determined by the Minister of Justice of Georgia.

 

Article 7 – Revocation of registration of an entity registered as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power

1. An entity registered as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power which, according to the data (circumstances) of the preceding calendar year no longer meets the criteria established in Article 2 of this Law for organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power, shall have the right, when submitting to the Agency a financial declaration provided for by Article 6 of this Law, to submit a substantiated written application, in tangible form, to the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and request the revocation of its registration as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power. In this case, a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall, based on a proper examination and enquiry into the matter, make an appropriate decision within 30 working days. For this purpose, the said person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall have the right to obtain the necessary information in compliance with law, including the data provided for by Article 3(b) of the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection, other personal data, and information containing a secret (except for a state secret as provided for by the legislation of Georgia). All persons, bodies, organisations, and institutions, which are requested by a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia to submit such information, shall immediately provide him/her with such information that is available to them.

2. If a decision is made on revoking the registration of an entity as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power, the Agency shall immediately remove such entity from the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power and delete from the respective website the information and documents related to the said entity that were previously made public in accordance with this Law.

3. The decision provided for by paragraph 2 of this article is public and shall be published on the respective website.

4. The procedure for revoking the registration of an entity registered as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power shall be determined by the Minister of Justice of Georgia.

 

Article 8 – Monitoring

1. In order to identify organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power, or to check compliance with any of the requirements of this Law, a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall have the right to carry out, at any time, monitoring, namely the appropriate examination of and enquiry into the matter.

2. The grounds for initiating monitoring shall be as follows:

a) a decision of a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia;

b) a written application submitted to the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, which contains appropriate information related to a specific organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power.

3. In order to carry out monitoring, a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall have the right to obtain the necessary information in compliance with law, including the data provided for by Article 3(b) of the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection, other personal data, and information containing a secret (except for a state secret as provided for by the legislation of Georgia). All persons, bodies, organisations, and institutions, which are requested by a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia to submit such information, shall immediately provide him/her with such information that is available to them.

4. The monitoring of the same entity may be carried out only once in 6 months.

5. If, as a result of monitoring, it has been established that an entity meets the criteria established in Article 2 of this Law for organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power, but the entity had evaded registration as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power, the Agency shall register such entity as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power based on the application of a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. The registration of such entity as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power shall not exempt it from the liability provided for by Article 9(1) of this Law. In this case, the entity shall fill in the statement and submit it to the Agency within 10 working days, in compliance with the requirements of this Law.

6. The monitoring procedure shall be determined by the Minister of Justice of Georgia.

 

Article 9 – Liability and matters of legal proceedings

1. The evasion of registration as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power, or the failure to submit a financial declaration as provided for by Article 6 of this Law within the timeframe established by the same article, –

shall be subject to a fine of GEL 25 000.

2. Failure to comply with the requirement of Article 4(2) of this Law, failure to fulfil the obligation to remedy a shortcoming as provided for by Article 4(4) or Article 6(1) of this Law, or failure to fulfil the obligation to fill in and submit the statement provided for by Article 8(5) of this Law, –

shall be subject to a fine of GEL 10 000.

3. Continuation of an action as referred to in paragraph 2 of this article within 1 month after the imposition of the latest administrative penalty for committing the same action –

shall be subject to a fine of GEL 20 000.

4. Failure to provide a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia with the information requested by him/her in accordance with this Law –

shall be subject to a fine of GEL 5 000.

5. A case of administrative offence as provided for by this article shall be examined, an administrative offence report shall be drawn up, and an appropriate administrative penalty shall be imposed on an offender, by a person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. In the case of committing the said administrative offence, legal proceedings shall be carried out in accordance with the Administrative Offences Code and other relevant legislative acts of Georgia.

6. The imposition of liability as provided for by this article on a respective entity shall not exempt it from the obligation to fulfil the requirements of this Law.

7. Liability as provided for by this article may be imposed on an entity committing the respective administrative offence only within 6 years after the commission of the said administrative offence.

8. Appealing against a legal act issued on the basis of this Law and/or on the basis of a subordinate normative act provided for by this Law shall not suspend its effect.

 

Article 10 – Transitional provisions

1. Within 60 days after the entry into force of this paragraph:

a) the relevant bodies/officials shall adopt/issue the subordinate acts necessary for the implementation of this Law and ensure the compliance of the relevant subordinate acts with this Law;

b) the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and the Agency shall take preliminary material and technical and other measures necessary for the implementation of this Law.

2. An entity provided for by Article 2(1) of this Law which, according to the data (circumstances) of 2023, meets the criteria established in the same article for organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power, shall, within 1 month after the entry into force of this paragraph, submit to the Agency a written application, in tangible form, through the LEPL Public Service Hall, regarding registration as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power. After that, the procedures specified in Article 4 of this Law shall be carried out.

 

Article 11 – Entry into force of the Law

1. This Law, except for Articles 1-9 and Article 10(2) of this Law, shall enter into force upon its promulgation.

2. Articles 1-9 and Article 10(2) of this Law shall enter into force on the 60^th day after the promulgation of this Law.

 

 

Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia                   Shalva Papuashvili

 

Tbilisi,

28 May 2024

No 4194-XIV მს -X მპ