“Georgian Dream” registered a literal translation of FARA as a bill in Parliament

A literal translation into Georgian of the American FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) has been registered in the Georgian parliament by the ruling party as a bill.

In Georgian it is called “უცხოელი აგენტების რეგისტრაციის აქტი” (Foreign Agents Registration Act). If passed, the new law could extend to individuals, and non-compliance could face criminal liability.

The Georgian Dream earlier said that FARA would replace the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” adopted last year amid protests.

However, it turned out that it was impossible to adopt as a law a direct tracing of the American law.

Head of the Legal Department Alexander Tabatadze said that the draft will have to be corrected and finalized. According to him, at the moment the document uses “incompatible with Georgian reality”. Including references to “Congress”, “State Department” and even “President of the United States”.

Speaker Shalva Popuashvili said that the verbatim translation is presented without edits on purpose so that everyone can see that Georgia is taking an example from the United States.

“Every word, every comma and every dot is identical to the law in force in the United States... This will put an end to any assumptions that the Georgian Parliament will adopt a law that does not meet international standards,” Papuashvili said.

Now the document will be studied by the parliamentary committee on legal issues. After that, a decision will be made on what changes should be made to the document. The Georgian Dream says that they will mainly concern the adaptation of terms and will be minimal.

Currently, Georgia has a law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”, the adoption of which at the second attempt last spring caused a wave of protest inside the country and criticism from the West. This law provides for registration in the Register of Persons Holding the Interests of Foreign Power of organizations whose foreign funding exceeds 20% of the budget. There is a system of fines for failure to register and submit reports. Most NGOs and media outlets, despite this, have refused to register with the Registry.

Reprinted from https://www.newsgeorgia.ge/