On May 17, Guram Macharashvili, a member of the anti-Western parliamentary party “People’s Power”, said that the amendments to the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”, which now makes physical persons subject to the law, were not included in the first, second and third readings. According to Macharashvili, “the law is being read backwards.”
The statement of the MP was published by the pro-government news agencies “Marshal Press“, “Ipress.ge“, “Kvira” and “Reporter“. The media articles note that Macharshli made the statement while ‘commenting on the disinformation spread by the opposition’.
The claim that the amendment in the draft law did not apply to individuals is false. In the versions of the draft law “On transparency of foreign influence” presented in the first and second readings, there was no mention of natural persons. At the third hearing, which is only of an editorial nature, the legal committee and the plenary session presented the amended version to the members of the parliament, the fourth article of which also refers to natural persons and requires them to provide personal information. It should be noted that the amendment of Article 4 was not reflected in the notes sheet provided for the second reading, the amendment of the article is found in the notes sheet of the third reading.
The Parliament of Georgia discussed and adopted the law “On transparency of foreign influence” in three hearings. The discussion ended on May 14 and is now awaiting a vote to override the President’s veto.
After the adoption of the law, it was found that an amendment was made in it. In particular, in the same paragraph of the fourth article of the adopted law, which refers to the “registration of the subject as an organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power”, a new entry appeared:
,,A person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall be obliged to review and study this application within 30 working days after the submission of the application. For this purpose, the person shall have the right to request, in accordance with the law, the necessary information, including the data provided for by Paragraph ‘b’ of Article 3 of the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection, other personal data or secret-containing information (except for state secret provided for in the legislation of Georgia). Every person, body, organisation, entity, which is requested to provide this information by the person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, is obliged to immediately provide the information at its/her/his disposal.” Non-fulfillment of the condition stated in the fourth article is also a prerequisite for imposing a financial sanction on a natural person. According to Article 9, it envisages a fine of 5,000 GEL.

The so-called new entry in the “Agents’ Law” obliges organizations, including individuals, to submit personal information. Article 3, Clause B of the Law of Georgia “On Personal Data Protection” defines “special category data” as follows: “special categories of data – data connected to a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political views, religious, philosophical or other beliefs, membership of professional unions, health, sexual life,” , membership of the professional union, health, sexual life…”, the person authorized by the Ministry of Justice will rely on this article when requesting information for organizations and private individuals.
When was the new entry added to the law?
Neither in the document initiated by “Georgian Dream”, nor in the document supported in the first and second hearings contains any similar entry.
According to Article 110, Clause 3 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Georgia, the bill will be considered during the second reading “according to subsections, clauses (parts), articles, chapters and/or chapters”. After the Parliament supports the draft law in the second reading, the leading committee will reflect the comments made in the same hearing into the draft law and prepare it for the third reading. And during the third reading of the draft law, only editorial changes can be made to it.

From the note sheet published on the official website of the Parliament of Georgia, we learn that the amendment to the law was introduced within the framework of the II plenary hearing. However, this document is published together with the relevant files of the third hearing, and the amendment of Article 4 is not reflected in the note sheet provided for the second hearing. The Parliament discussed Article 4 of the Law at a plenary hearing on May 1. In response to the MPs’ questions, the rapporteur on the same article, the chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, Anri Okhanashvili, said:
“It is specified in the fourth paragraph of the fourth article that “the person authorized by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia is obliged” – instead of the agency, here it will be the ministry, and – “within 30 working days of submitting the application to the agency, to investigate and study this application, for which this person has the right under the law Accordingly, to find the necessary information, including” – and there were questions to specify the issue of personal information, and therefore it is specified, – “including, the data provided for in subsection “b” of Article 3 of the Law of Georgia “On Personal Data Protection”, other personal Data and information containing other types of secrets provided by the legislation of Georgia (except state secrets). All those persons, bodies, organizations, and institutions, which are required to submit this information by the person authorized by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, are obliged to immediately submit the said information in their possession”.
Before that, at the legal issues committee, the co-speaker Givi Mikanadze said regarding the access to personal data that everything cannot be spelled out by the law, there may be a need to find some information in the process, which is beyond the scope of the law. The co-rapporteur, while discussing Article 4, also noted that the law does not apply to individuals, however, “people should know where the funding went”. Article 4 of the draft law was changed in the second reading and reflected in the text prepared for the third reading.
The third reading did not allow the possibility to consider the change in the law. According to the regulations of the Parliament, the third committee hearing is of an editorial nature, and the members of the committee are no longer involved in substantive, article discussion. It is also worth noting that the chairman of the Committee on Legal Issues, Anri Okhanashvili, completed the III committee hearing in less than two minutes. At that time, only the deputies of the ruling power were present in the hall. According to the opposition MPs, they were delayed by the police and could not enter the hearing.
The Chairman of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, also admits that Article 4 of the “Agents’ Law” is different from the initial version.
Article 4 during hearing I and II | “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.” |
Article 4 during the III hearing | “A person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall be obliged to review and study this application within 30 working days after the submission of the application. For this purpose, the person shall have the right to request, in accordance with the law, the necessary information, including the data provided for by Paragraph ‘b’ of Article 3 of the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection, other personal data or secret-containing information (except for state secret provided for in the legislation of Georgia). Every person, body, organisation, entity, which is requested to provide this information by the person authorised by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, is obliged to immediately provide the information at its/her/his disposal. |
For more information about the Foreign Agents Law and the disinformation disseminated about it, see the articles prepared by “Myth Detector:”
- GEORGIAN DREAM MP VOICES LIES ABOUT THE VENICE COMMISSION OPINION
- GABRIELIUS LANDSBERGIS’ QUOTE ON SOVEREIGNTY DISSEMINATED IN A MANIPULATIVE WAY
- WHO IS PATRICK HERNANDES, WHOSE DETENTION IS BEING USED TO SPREAD A CONSPIRACY THEORY ABOUT THE USA?
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