Legal affairs Committee to debate controversial foreign transparency bill this week

The Georgian  parliament’s legal affairs committee, chaired by Anri Okhanashvili, is set to convene to discuss the contentious draft law over transparency in foreign influence on friday. 

The bill, reintroduced by the ruling Georgian Dream faction after its rejection last year due to public protests, has sparked considerable debate and scrutiny. 

During the recent session of the Parliament’s Bureau, new legislative proposals were deliberated upon, with the GD faction presenting the draft law titled “On the transparency of foreign influence”, which aims to brand all domestic entities obtaining more than 20 percent of their incomes from abroad as organizations aligning the interests of a foreign power.

Giorgi Volski, the vice-speaker, presiding over the Bureau session, mentioned that parliamentary opposition members had put forth alternative versions of the law, resulting in two separate legislative packages.

Voices from the opposition advocated for broader scrutiny of both the primary and alternative bills across all parliamentary committees. 

Giorgi Mskhiladze, the President’s Parliamentary Secretary, expressed the view that the draft law introduced by the ruling faction should not be officially registered during the Bureau session. He claimed the president would veto the bill if adopted by the parliament. The opposition and the civil sector brand the bill as “Russian”.