The Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee reviewed and supported, article by article in the second reading, the amendments to the Law of Georgia on Oil and Gas and the related legislative package.

The legislative initiative of the Government of Georgia was presented at the session by the First Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Nino Enukidze.

According to the proposed changes, the concepts of "natural hydrogen" and "natural hydrogen operations" are defined. The scope and wording of the definitions for the production sharing agreement and the general licence for the use of oil and gas resources issued under it are also expanded and clarified.

As the rapporteur explained, following the first reading, an amendment was made to Article 1, where the wording for natural hydrogen was supplemented with the reference “1,000 cubic metres". Additionally, the concept of the so-called “development plan” was revised and newly defined.

The rapporteur also noted that Article 2 of the Environmental Assessment Code, included in the package, was amended to incorporate the term "natural hydrogen".

The session also included a second reading of the amendments to the Maritime Code of Georgia, presented by the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Guram Guramishvili.

Under the proposed changes, the Legal Entity under Public Law – State Hydrographic Service of Georgia – will be merged with the LEPL – Maritime Transport Agency.

According to the rapporteur, a new article was added to the law to clarify key terminology, including: "very serious marine casualty", "serious marine casualty", "less serious marine casualty", and "marine incident".

The amendment to Article 3 changes the effective date of the law: instead of 30 calendar days after promulgation, it will now come into force on a specific date – 1 August.

The Committee expressed its support for the legislative changes discussed during the session.