Georgia's "Foreign Agents Act" set to impact autumn elections

The Foreign Influence Transparency Act, commonly referred to as the Foreign Agents Act, is currently awaiting the signature of either the head of state or the head of parliament. Once published in the official journal and formally enacted, it may take several months to fully operational. The media have speculated on when this might happen.

The Newsgeorgia.ge portal reports that "the Foreign Influence Transparency Act, also known as the Russian Act, will start operating closer to autumn." The media predict that registering non-governmental organisations and media as "foreign agents," as stipulated in the Act, will enter an "active phase" at the beginning of autumn, several weeks before the parliamentary elections, scheduled for late October. This could impact the election observation process, which is crucial for civil society and carried out by third-sector organisations.

The Georgian editorial office of Radio Free Europe (Radio Tavisupleba) describes the procedures related to the Act's implementation in detail. On May 28, the parliament controlled by the Georgian Dream party overrode the presidential veto against the Act, voting against it with 84 votes (four against and a boycott of the vote by the majority of the opposition).

After the Act was sent back to the president (as announced on Wednesday), President Salome Zurabiszwili had five days to sign it. If she does not, it seems most likely that the chair of parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, will sign it within five days. It will then be officially published and come into force after 15 days.

After the Act is published, the Ministry of Justice and the National Public Registry Agency will have 60 days to create a portal for registering "organisations acting in the interest of a foreign power." Once this stage is complete, organisations and media receiving over 20% of their funding from abroad will be required to register.

This procedure is not simple. The Radio Tavisupleba portal writes that the countdown begins on the 60th day after the Act's publication. Institutions that believe they meet the "foreign influence agents" criteria will have a month to submit a written application for registration. They will then need to complete a detailed application, including information on income and expenditures for the previous year (the law applies retroactively).

The National Public Registry Agency will have 30 days to verify the application and register a specific organisation as an "agent." Their list will be publicly available.

The Georgian portal notes that the Ministry of Justice will be authorized by law to obtain information about individuals associated with the organisation during the application verification process. This includes sensitive and private information such as political views, origin, religion, or health data. In the event of refusal to provide such information, a fine of 5,000 lari (approx. £1,400), which can be imposed more than once, is anticipated.

If an organisation refuses to voluntarily register on the list of "foreign agents," a fine of 25,000 lari (approx. £7,000) is anticipated. The state will then register the organisation itself. If it fails to file a financial declaration, it will receive another fine of 10,000 lari (approx. £2,800). The state can conduct further monthly inspections and impose a fine of 20,000 lari (approx. £5,600) each time it finds non-compliance with the regulations.

The Foreign Agents Act also includes what the media call a "snitch mechanism." Anyone can file a statement that a given structure is a "foreign agent." Based on this, state structures will begin verification.

Since mid-April, mass protests against the Act have been ongoing in Georgia. Critics argue that it will enable authorities to destroy civil society and implement an authoritarian model of governance in the Russian style. They say that, in practice, this will mean a return to the Russian sphere of influence, as it is already evident that adopting the Act has caused an unprecedented crisis in Tbilisi's relations with the West. Georgians, overwhelmingly pro-European, fear primarily deviating from the path of European integration.

The Georgian authorities argue that they are only concerned with "transparency and defending sovereignty." They label their critics the Global War Party and accuse "external forces" of organizing the protests.