First Deputy Justice Minister says compliance with law on transparency of foreign influence does not cause any harm, danger to organisations

Tamar Tkeshelashvili, the First Deputy Justice Minister of Georgia, on Monday said in case of registration in the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power, organisations would continue their activities “as usual” without being subject to any financial sanctions.

In her interview with Imedi TV, Tkeshelashvili noted that in case of failure to register, an organisation would be fined, but they would still continue their activities until they can pay the said fines.

“Compliance with the law [on transparency of foreign influence] does not cause any harm or danger to organisations. And those [decision-makers] who do not register, first of all, harm their own organisations”, Tkeshelashvili said.

“In any case, organisations must be registered, and if they are not registered, another mechanism, which is called the monitoring mechanism, will be activated, and as a result of the corresponding check, they will still be included in this register. As for their activities, it should be highlighted that the state does not limit their activities in any way”, she concluded.

Tkeshelashvili on Monday said a total of 469 organisations had applied for registration in the registry of organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power.

The domestic law on transparency of foreign influence regulates the registration of an entity as an organisation pursuing the interest of a foreign power and other issues related to the transparency of the activities of an organisation pursuing the interest of a foreign power.

Registration in the registry becomes mandatory for all organisations with over 20 percent of their income coming from abroad.

Avoiding registration as an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power or failure to fill out a disclosure will entail a fine of ₾25,000 ($9,2 thousand).