Georgia’s Parliament on Monday registered a bill titled the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which its authors claim is a direct translation of the US legislation of the same name.
Aleksandre Tabatadze, head of the legal department, acknowledged that the Georgian translation “contains legal and substantive inaccuracies”. He claimed the discrepancies would be addressed in “due course”.
“The state bodies and officials involved in implementing the law, as outlined in the US version, do not correspond to Georgian realities,” Tabatadze noted. “For instance, references to ‘Congress,’ the ‘Library of Congress,’ the ‘State Department,’ and other US institutions need to be revised. Additionally, amendments to relevant Georgian legislative acts are required.”
Tabatadze pointed out that the bill currently includes only one amendment related to the Criminal Code, with other necessary legislative acts not yet attached. He also noted that a similar legislative framework already exists in Georgia, and if the intention is to repeal it, an accompanying bill should be proposed.
Archil Gorduladze, chairman of the parliamentary legal affairs committee, responded by emphasizing the political nature of the decision. “This is, first and foremost, a political step to avoid any misinterpretation in translation,” he said. He added that the responsible bodies for enforcing the law would be determined based on Georgian realities.
“We have even directly translated references to the US President and American institutions to eliminate claims that the regulation differs. We are open to discussions, and these details will be clarified,” Gorduladze stated. He argued that the bill aimed to introduce penalties equivalent to those in the United States and remains open for further additions and discussions in the bureau.
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili also defended the bill, reiterating that it was a “literal translation” of the US FARA. “Every word, every comma, and every period is identical to the law in force in the United States,” he claimed. He dismissed concerns that the legislation might not meet international standards, stating that such speculation would be put to rest with this proposal.
The bill has now been forwarded to the Legal Affairs Committee for further discussion.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, representing the ruling Georgian Dream party, confirmed that this version of the law would replace the previous “Agents Law,” which had sparked widespread controversy and was widely referred to by critics as the “Russian law.” The government had initially announced plans to introduce a bill identical to the US FARA in early February.
