Despite long and numerous actions and numerous calls from partners, Georgian Dream overcame the president’s veto and supported the Russian law. According to constitutionalist Vakhushti Menabde, the document will be returned to the president for signature within 3 days. She can no longer veto, but she has the right not to sign it. In such a case, the chairman of the parliament has the right to sign. He has 5 days to do so. After Shalva Papuashvili’s signature, the law will enter into force, although some articles have reservations about its later implementation.
In particular, the organization, which according to the current data of 2023 is considered to be “carrying the interests of a foreign power”, is obliged to apply to the House of Justice within one month after the entry into force of this clause of the law and register as a “carrying the interests of a foreign power” organization. This clause will come into effect on the 60th day after the publication of the law. Simply put, organizations with more than 20% of their income from foreign funding in 2023 are required to register within 60 days of the law’s publishment and then have a one-month deadline for registration.
As for those organizations whose income is more than 20% from abroad by 2024, they have the obligation to register as “carrying the interests of a foreign power” from the following January, 2025.
In order to know who the Russian law applies to, we must first see who it considers a “foreign power”.
- A constituent entity of the government system of a foreign state — for example, the embassy of any country in Georgia;
- A natural person who is not a citizen of Georgia — for example, Elon Musk, if he decides to finance a media or an organization that, say, will work in the direction of technology development;
- A legal entity that is not established on the basis of the legislation of Georgia — all organizations that are not established in Georgia. That is, all international organizations friendly to the country, for example, NATO and the European Union;
- Such an organizational structure (including a foundation, association, corporation, union, other type of organization) or other type of association of persons, which is based on the law of a foreign state and/or international law – for example, the United Nations, which has been actively helping both the Georgian authorities and non-governmental sector.
According to Russian law, organizations funded by the listed entities are considered “carriers of the interests of a foreign power” if this funding exceeds 20% of the annual income of the organization receiving support. But this record does not apply to state institutions, for example, the Parliament, which implements many projects with foreign funding, and even the website is made with the support of USAID. Also, it will not concern the ministries and municipalities, which are building roads and schools with the help of international partners and spending the money of international partners in education, health care, economy, etc.
Here is a list of people affected by the Russian law:
- A non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entity whose source of more than 20% of the total income received during the year is a foreign power. The record does not apply to non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities, national sports federations and blood collection institutions founded by an administrative body — simply put, if the Ministry of Education’s legal entity under public law received funding from the US Embassy to conduct lessons about Georgian culture in schools, it is a “foreign power” It will not be considered a conduit of interests, and if a non-governmental organization receives funding for the same purpose, it becomes a conduit of the interests of a foreign power.
- A broadcaster whose source of more than 20% of the total income received during the year is “foreign power”. This does not include income from sponsorship, teleshopping or commercial advertising placed by a business community or an individual entrepreneur — simply put, TV and radio stations that are not financed by political money, do not represent the business of a private person, and whose main income is not advertising.
- A legal entity that alone or jointly owns a mass information print medium operating in Georgia and whose source of more than 20% of the total income received during the year is a foreign power. This does not include income from advertising placed by a business community or an individual entrepreneur — that is, an organization that owns print media must be registered as a “carrier of the interests of a foreign power” if 20% of the income from print media it owns comes from abroad, for example, from an embassy.
- A legal entity that owns or jointly owns and/or uses an internet domain and/or internet hosting for internet media disseminating mass information in the state language of Georgia and whose source of more than 20% of the total income received during the year is a foreign power. This does not include income from advertising placed by a business community or individual entrepreneur — that is, online media that owns a website and 20% of its income comes from abroad, such as the EU.
Therefore, the law applies to all non-governmental organizations whose services you have used or heard about. In addition, the law also restricts those independent media that are not financed by political money or are not private businesses, because, except for units, all independent media in Georgia operate with the support of donors.
It is worth noting that both non-governmental organizations and the media refused to register as “carriers of the interests of a foreign power”, including Aprili Media. According to Russian law, evasion of registration or failure to submit a financial declaration within the prescribed period results in a fine of 25,000 GEL. The fine does not exempt the organization from the obligation to register as a “carrier of the interests of foreign powers”. Also, appealing this fine does not release them from the obligation to pay. All this means that the listed organizations, with a high probability, will not be able to pay the fine and will be forced to stop their activities, which will affect all citizens. For example, you may not be able to get services that you now get for free, and you may not be able to read reliable, verified information in independent media and only have access to the news that the government-controlled media chooses to cover.
In addition, this law directly applies to natural persons – despite the fact that Russian law only provides for the registration of legal entities, a person authorized by the Ministry of Justice, on their own initiative or based on the information provided, can start monitoring, within the framework of which they have the right to request any information from a natural person, including providing special categories of personal data. This type of personal information is, for example, information about personal life. Failure to provide these reports will result in a fine of 5,000 GEL for the individual. It is on the basis of this article that the law may affect everyone.