The Committee discussed for the I reading and approved the legal initiative of the Faction “Georgian Dream” – the Draft Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence.

According to the reporter, the Parliamentary Majority Leader, the Chair of the Faction “Georgian Dream”, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Draft applies to the NGOs and media organizations with over 20% of annual income from foreign sources. Per his information, such organizations shall get registered in a respective Register of the Ministry of Justice as the “agents of foreign influence” and mandatorily submit the asset declaration once per annum.

As elucidated by the reporter, the Draft establishes the administrative penalties for the violation of the hereof regulations and stipulates the registration procedures and the control mechanisms of the agencies that the NGOs shall get registered at.

“We adopted none of the Draft Laws considered last year. Henceforth, we have been holding communications with donor organizations and back then, all the parties – the opposition, NGOs and especially the donors were urging that all the aspects were already transparent. We have also held numerous meetings where they kept reiterating that all the non-transparency issues would be removed, however, their pledges remained void. Eventually, lots of issues, including financing, projects and grants have become even vogue. It led to the reality that we, in order to extract the so-called “black money” from circulation, have to at the state level undertake respective remedies similar to the measures undertaken by the USA and the measures that the EU currently strives to apply for the regulation of the hereof issue through the Bill submitted to the European Parliament in the capacity of the EU-directive, similar to the Bill adopted by the Lower House of France and as applied in Australia, Israel, Canada etc. Besides, we have to address the huge flow of speculations that the Draft Law does not apply to Russia, which is the acutest lie of recent days. This Draft Law does not apply the natural persons but applies to all organizations funded by any foreign country and regardless of the source of their financing, is it West, our partner or friend, or even the occupant countries”, - he stated.

As he noted, all significant decisions on the EU integration path are made and achieved by the Georgian Dream, including the record to the Constitution that Georgia aspires to Europe, EU and NATO.

The Committee also discussed two legal packages of alternative Bills, namely, submitted by MPs Beka Liluashvili, Ana Buchukuri, Mikheil Daushvili, Shalva Kereselidze and Teona Akubardia – the Draft Law on Protection from the Influence of the Occupant Country – the Russian Federation, and the Draft Criminal Code; and the alternative Draft Laws by MPs Beka Liluashvili and Mikheil Daushvili on Accounting, Reporting and Audit, and on Grants.

The first legal package determines the force of the occupant country – Russia as the agent under the influence of the occupant country and prohibits the activities deriving from the interests of and in favor of the occupant country that, ultimately aim at the prejudice of the national interests of Georgia, including the full integration to the EU and NATO. The second legal package stipulates the administration of the reporting submitted by the grant-receiving organizations and the body responsible for public accessibility, namely, the Service for Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Supervision.

The amendments also assign the grant-receiving organizations to mandatorily submit the activity report to the respective state agency on an annual basis. The report shall provide information on the grant projects received and implemented during the reporting period. The Government acquires the authority to specify the detailed list of the issues to be included in the report. As the reporter, B. Liluashvili noted, transparency is not a real intent of the Government and the Draft Law they have developed triggers public confrontations.

“By submitting the alternative legal packages, we allow you to step back and approve the Drafts that serve no basis for the uproars”, - he addressed the Majority MPs.

The Committee rejected the alternative Drafts.