Georgia continues to fulfil visa liberalisation benchmarks and has taken action to address the European Commission’s previous recommendations, the sixth report of the Commission on the fulfilment of visa-free obligations by Eastern Partnership countries and the Balkan states said.

“1. Visa policy alignment

Georgia has a visa-free regime with 24 countries that are on the EU list of visa-required countries14: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belize, Botswana, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Thailand, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Georgia made no progress towards further visa policy alignment in 2022.

2. Document security, including biometrics

Georgia has issued biometric passports since 2010. Non-biometric passports will be fully phased out by 1 January 2025, when the last ones currently in circulation will expire. As part of cooperation with Interpol, Georgia exchanges information on lost and stolen passports.

3. Integrated border management, migration management, asylum

Georgia continued efforts to address the issue of unfounded asylum applications filed by its citizens in the Member States. Based on a new entry-exit law entered into force in January 2021, in 2022 the Georgian authorities have carried out ‘exit-control checks’ at the Georgian border crossing points. Georgia reports that during the period 2021/2022 this system allowed to prevent departures of a total of 4 677 citizens of Georgia that were considered to represent a risk of irregular migration to the EU. The Georgian authorities made further efforts to address this issue through criminal prosecution of persons and groups involved in smuggling of migrants, including those involved in providing false information on prospects for submitting successful asylum requests in the EU. The number of people effectively charged remains however low (11 in 2022).

Georgia cooperates regularly with concerned EU Member States on issues related to visa-free travel, including the prevention of irregular stay of Georgian citizens. In 2022, this cooperation included the deployment of 16 Georgian police officers in some EU Member States, to assist local law enforcement authorities, with eight joint operations conducted.

Georgia has a regular cooperation with Frontex, based on a Working Arrangement on operational cooperation renewed in 2021. A number of Frontex officers are deployed to land and sea border crossing points as well as to Tbilisi and Kutaisi international airports. Georgian police officers have also been deployed to concerned EU Member States’ airports. The main purpose of this cooperation is to prevent the abuse of visa-free travel by Georgian citizens, including by lodging unfounded asylum applications.

Georgia cooperated closely with Member States on readmission. The rate of positive decisions by the Georgian authorities on readmission requests averages 98% for the whole period 2017-2022. Georgia also cooperated very closely on returns, including on repatriation flights for return purposes. In 2022 Georgian escorts took part in Frontex training on collecting return operations15, in order to ensure the highest EU standards during the implementation of such operations. Several Member States as well as Frontex welcomed the good cooperation with Georgia with regard to the use of repatriation flights for return purposes.

4. Monitoring trends in irregular migration, applications for international protection, returns and readmission

In 2022, the number of applications for international protection by nationals of Georgia in Member States increased by 81% compared to 2021, with 26 450 applications lodged in 2022 (14 635 in 2021). The recognition rate16 increased from 5% in 2021 to 7% in 2022. In 2022, there were 25 irregular border crossings of Georgian nationals to Member States. In 2022, the number of Georgian nationals found to be irregularly staying in Member States rose by 87%, with 21 910 people in 2022 against 11 695 in 2021. The number of refusals of entry issued to Georgian nationals increased by 31%, from 3 030 in 2021 to 3 970 in 2022.

In 2022, the number of return decisions issued to nationals of Georgia rose by 50% (16 275 in 2022 compared with 10 820 in 2021) as did the number of people returned (7 760 in 2022 compared with 4 935 in 2021, a rise of 57%). The return rate slightly improved, from 46% in 2021 to 48% 2022.

5. Public order and security

Georgia continued efforts to fight against corruption. In 2022, the Parliament adopted legislation establishing the Anti-Corruption Bureau, an agency in charge of the development of anti-corruption policy and the monitoring of its implementation. Its competence includes the monitoring of assets’ declarations of high-level officials and of financial activities of political parties, the protection of whistle-blowers, as well as the identification and prevention of conflicts of interest in public institutions.

The framework for policy coordination is in place, but the main anti-corruption policy coordination platform, the National Anti-Corruption Council, has not met since 2019. Pursuant to the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, some aspects of policy coordination were assigned to the Bureau. The mandates of the Bureau and the Council, especially in the policy development and monitoring domains, need to be clearly delineated. At the end of September 2023, Georgia sent a request for an opinion to the Venice Commission regarding its existing laws on the setting up of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and on the Special Investigation Service.

On the operational level, the fight against corruption is the responsibility of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG). The task was also carried out by the Civil Service Bureau, which supports the implementation of the anti-corruption policy amongst civil servants in Georgia, with one of its main responsibilities being the management of the asset and interest declaration scheme for public officials. In the first nine months of 2022, a total of 115 people were prosecuted for corruption and 95 were convicted. The responsibility for asset declarations has now been handed over to Anti-corruption Bureau.

High-level corruption remains an area to be addressed and in particular the challenge of large-scale vested interests and their influence in both the political, judicial and economic spheres. In February 2023, Georgia withdrew from the OECD anti-corruption monitoring network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (OECD/CAN).

Georgia is a participating state of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO). It has implemented or dealt with eight of the 16 recommendations contained in the 4th Round Evaluation Report. In May 2023, Georgia implemented one outstanding GRECO recommendation by widening the scope of the asset declaration regime to cover all prosecutors. A recommendation about limiting the immunity of judges to activities relating to their participation in judicial decision-making (“functional immunity”) remains to be implemented.

Georgia made an effort to improve the legal tools on the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, by increasing the powers of the Financial Monitoring Service (FMS) and creating a Standing Interagency Commission. The commission is tasked with developing and submitting to the government the National AML/CFT Strategy and Action Plan for the period 2023-2025. The first working session of the commission was held on 20 September 2022. On the operational level, new guidelines were adopted in May 2022 on seizure of virtual currency, which is now frequently used by investigators and prosecutors in criminal cases concerning money laundering.

On the fight against terrorism, the new National Counter-terrorism Strategy of 2022-2026 and its corresponding Action Plan were adopted in January 2022. The strategy includes the adoption of a financial sanctions mechanism and takes into account the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and those of Moneyval’s 2020 Report on Georgia. The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) continued actively to cooperate with Europol, joining the Counter Terrorism Joint Liaison Team (CT JLT) and participating in analytical projects, including Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP). Under the National Strategy for Combating Organised Crime 2021-2024, Georgian law enforcement agencies are focusing their efforts on tackling cybercrime and drug trafficking towards the EU, the latter being a source of considerable profits for criminal groups. Georgia reported an increase of relevant personnel in 2022, an effort to increase the interagency cooperation and the launching of public awareness campaigns, especially on dangers linked to cybercrime. Georgia also made efforts to introduce the concepts of ‘Community Oriented Policing and Intelligence Led Policing’ in its law enforcement agencies, based amongst others on the results of the EU-funded project “Support the Fight against Organised Crime in Georgia”. Georgia maintains a network of police attachés in numerous EU Member states and a Liaison Office at Europol. Cooperation is particularly close with European Serious Organised Crime Centre (ESOCC) of Europol, dealing with criminal groups based in the countries covered by the Eastern Partnership. Georgia is also actively involved in European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) activities. In 2022, Georgia participated in 8 Operational Action Plans out of 15 and a National EMPACT Coordinator (NEC) was nominated. A Working Arrangement with CEPOL, replacing the previous Cooperation Agreement, was signed on 22 June 2022.

In September 2022, Georgia signed a second technical cooperation working arrangement document with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Several national data collection systems are available in Georgia, some compatible with EMCDDA protocols.

Georgia is a beneficiary of the ‘EMCDDA4GE’ project, which is focused on knowledge transfer and capacity building in the areas of drug monitoring, reporting, prevention and treatment. On 28 September 2022, Georgia concluded a working arrangement with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). As part of its cooperation with Eurojust, in 2022 Georgia took part in two joint investigation teams with EU counterparts. Georgia has appointed a Liaison Prosecutor at Eurojust.

6. External relations and fundamental rights

In the Fifth Visa Suspension Mechanism Report, the Commission recommended that Georgia fully align the procedure for appointing Supreme Court judges with the Venice Commission’s recommendations, and adopt and implement legislation evaluating the integrity and performance of Supreme Court judges.

Georgia has not yet fully implemented the relevant Venice Commission recommendations. An effective right of appeal for candidates in the appointment procedure of the Supreme Court judges remains to be ensured by clarifying the binding nature of the Supreme Court decision for the High Council of Justice. Georgia has not initiated the process of preparing legislation on additional integrity checks for Supreme Court judges with the participation of international experts with a casting vote. In the Fifth Visa Suspension Mechanism Report, the Commission recommended also that Georgia ensures the independence of its data protection authority, the Personal Data Protection Service (PDPS). A new law on data protection was adopted in June 2023 and sent to the Venice Commission for opinion in September 2023. The law is aimed at aligning Georgia’s legislation with the EU acquis and overall provides for improvements in comparison to the 2011 law. However, several issues are still to be addressed, notably regarding rules on international data transfers and certain exemptions/limitations to data protection rights.

7. Recommendations

Overall, Georgia continues to fulfil the visa liberalisation benchmarks and has taken action to address the Commission’s previous recommendations. However, further efforts are needed. In particular, the following issues need to be further addressed:

a) Align Georgia’s visa policy with the EU’s list of visa-required third countries, in particular with regard to countries presenting irregular migration or security risks to the EU.
b) Step up action to address the issue of unfounded asylum applications and irregular stays in Member States.
c) Participate in the actions of the EMPACT Operational Action Plan on Migrant Smuggling.
d) Set up an Asset Recovery Office and Asset Management Office, and to step up asset recovery efforts from asset tracing, freezing, management, confiscation and disposal.
e) Adopt a new Anti-corruption strategy and Action plan, ensuring adequate resources for their implementation and pay special attention to investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of high-level corruption cases.
f) Ensure that legislation on the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Special Investigation Service and the Personal Data Protection Service address the recommendations from the Venice Commission”, - reads the report.