The Georgian Parliament on Wednesday approved the first reading of the bill on the transparency of foreign influence that has sparked public protests and criticism by the country’s foreign partners.
The draft law was supported by 83 MPs in the 150-member lawmaking body.
The amendments provide for the registration of non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities and media as “the organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if a certain amount of their income, over 20 per cent, is received from abroad.
According to the bill, everyone who is considered an “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power” must be mandatorily registered in the state registry under the same name, reflecting the income at the registration moment.
At the same time, the amendments oblige the organizations to fill out a financial declaration annually. The bill provides the Ministry of Justice with the authority to execute research and study-monitoring of the issue at any time to identify “an organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”
