The law "On transparency of foreign influence", the so-called Russian law, has already entered into force. According to the law, every legal entity whose organization receives more than 20% of funds from foreign donors is required to register with the Ministry of Justice as an organisation "bearing the interests of a foreign power" .
As lawyer Gvantsa Zhorzholiani explaines in air of the radio Commersant, the organization is required to register with the Ministry of Justice as organisations "bearing the interests of a foreign power" and should be registered in January of eachyear. According to the lawyer, in the transitional provision of the law there is a clause that within 60 days from the date of entry into force of this law, all legal entities that in the previous year had more than 20% of funding from foreign sources must be registered with the Ministry of Justice.
Print media or broadcasting company must apply for registration as an organization pursuing the interest of a foreign power to a Legal Entity of Public Law - National Agency of the Public Registry within the Ministry of Justice of Georgia through a Legal Entity of Public Law that is obliged to provide the specified entity with access to the relevant website within two working days so that this entity can fill out an application for registration as an organization pursuing the interest of a foreign power in electronic form observing the form established by the Minister of Justice Georgia, and submit it to the Agency.
An author of the application shall be obliged to reflect in the application the following information: identification data of the author of application; information about the source, amount and purpose of any monetary and other tangible benefits received by the author of application during previous calendar year; information on the amount and purpose of funds spent by the author of application during previous calendar year.
The Agency shall be obliged to consider and study an application within 30 working days after the submission of the application, for which the relevant authorized person of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall have the right to request the necessary information, including personal data, in accordance with the Law. If the application is filled out incorrectly or incompletely, the Agency shall set a period of 10 working days for the author of application to correct the error. The author of application shall be obliged to eliminate the defect within this period.
In Zhorzholiani’s words, the relevant authorized person of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall have the right to request the necessary information, including personal data not only about the people employed in this organization, but also about those who are the company beneficiaries, in accordance with the Law.
Gvantsa Zhorzholiani notes that the Ministry of Justice can be interested in the projects carried out by the organization as well as in the natural person involved in the project.
When we say that this law can affect everyone, many questions arise. For example, if a person rents out the premises he owns to a foreign company, will he be considered a pursuer of the interest of a foreign power? In this case, a person will not have to register, but the Ministry of Justice will have the right to request information about the persons, including personal data, about a person who will receive a grant from NGOs, is a researcher or is involved in any project. During the monitoring, the Ministry of Justice will have the right to request information about all persons.
The law says if the author of the application meets the criteria of an organization pursuing the interest of a foreign power and the application is filled out correctly and completely, the Agency shall be obliged to register the author of application as an organization pursuing the interest of a foreign power within 30 working days after the submission of the application to the Agency and enter it into the register of organization pursuing the interest of a foreign power. If the application is filled out incorrectly and/or incompletely, the Agency shall set a period of 10 working days for the author of application to correct the error. The author of application shall be obliged to eliminate the defect within this period. The Agency shall be obliged to register the author of application as an organization pursuing the interest of a foreign power within 5 working days after the expiration of this period and enter it into the register of organizations pursuing the interest of a foreign power, if the author of the application meets the criteria of an organization pursuing the interest of a foreign power.
Zhorzholiani says that the Ministry of Justice has the authority to start the study of a specific organization and determine whether this organization pursues the interest of a foreign power or not. Monitoring of the same entity shall be allowed only once every 6 months. But this is not a 1-2 week process, the Ministry will completely check the organization within a month.
If the Ministry determines the evasion of registration as an organization pursuing the interest of a foreign power, it shall be fined 25,000 GEL. Upon the expiration of 1 month after the imposition of the appropriate administrative fine, an organization will be fined 20,000 GEL- Gvantsa Zhorzholiani notes.
Gvantsa Zhorzholiani answers listener questions; one of them is how long the Constitutional Court can suspend the law. Gvantsa Zhorzholiani believes that appealing to the Constitutional Court is a correct approach. In her words, Article 78 of the Constitution directly states that state bodies should take measures to promote integration into the European Union and Euro-Atlantic institutions within their competence.
“We have this article in the Constitution of Georgia, at the same time we adopted a law that contradicts EU directives, in addition, we have the conclusion of the Venice Commission saying that the law does not comply with the norms and acts of the European Union, thus one can demand the initiation of a case on the law in the Constitutional Court.
Based on the general principles of the court, if the claim is filed in court, the law will remain in force until the court makes a decision,” Gvantsa Zhorzholiani points out.
