The Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament discussed the draft law On Transparency of Foreign Influence and approved it in the 2nd reading.

The amendments provide for the registration of non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities and media as “the organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if a certain amount of their income, over 20 per cent, is received from abroad.

According to the bill, everyone who is considered an “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power” must be mandatorily registered in the state registry under the same name, reflecting the income at the registration moment.

At the same time, the amendments oblige the organizations to fill out a financial declaration annually. The bill provides the Ministry of Justice [MoJ] with the authority to execute research and study-monitoring of the issue at any time to identify “an organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power”.

According to the draft, a decision of the relevant authorized person of the MoJ and a written application submitted to the MoJ, which “contains the relevant certificate regarding a specific organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power” will serve as the basis for starting monitoring.

As outlined in the draft, an authorized person of the MoJ and a written application submitted to the MoJ that consists of a suggestion regarding a specific organization pursuing foreign power interests are required to initiate monitoring.

An authorized person of the MoJ has the right, per the law, to request the necessary information, including personal information, for monitoring. Monitoring of the same entity will be allowed only once every 6 months.

Failure to register as an “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power” or oversight to fill out a declaration entails a fine of GEL 25 000. The draft also outlines the following types of penalties: GEL 10 000 if the organization does not fill out the application within ten working days of accessing the MoJ website. An unresolved flaw in the documents within the set timeframe will result in a fine of GEL 10 000; a statutory offence committed after one month will result in a fine of GEL 20 000.