Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, has signed the “Law on Foreign Agents” (“On Transparency of Foreign Influence”).
The speaker announced this at a briefing in the building of the legislative body, Suspilne reports.
From this day on, this law comes into force.
The document obliges non-governmental organizations with more than 20% of their funding coming from abroad to register as “foreign agents.”
On May 14, the Georgian parliament passes in the third reading the draft law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence,” the so-called “foreign agents” law.
On May 18, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence.” According to her, the law contradicts Georgia’s European aspirations.
However, on May 28, at a parliamentary meeting, the majority of MPs overrode the president’s veto. After the veto was overridden, the document had to be signed by the president within five days, and if she refused, the document had to be signed by the speaker of parliament.
What is known about the “law on foreign agents”
This law is actually analogous to a law that was adopted in Russia. According to the document, media and public organizations that receive funding from abroad will be granted the status of “agents of foreign influence.” In addition, the prosecutor’s office, not the state registry service, is to register foreign agents.
Violation of the law will be punishable by imprisonment for up to five years for individuals and a fine for legal entities.
For a month, thousands of people took to the streets of Georgian cities almost every day to protest the “Russian law.”
Georgia’s Western partners have also stated that this law distances the country’s European perspective and jeopardizes its status as an EU candidate.
