During the parliamentary session, which was broadcast on the website of the Caucasian nation’s legislative body, 86 deputies voted in favor of the initiative, while no one declared themselves against it.

In early February, the ruling Georgian-Democratic Georgian Dream party declared that it would take up an exact analogue of the U.S. FARA law.

According to the party leaders, it will be more effective than the law On Transparency of Foreign Influence, passed in May 2024, in the fight against foreign funding of those non-governmental organizations, the real purpose of which is to support destabilizing processes in the country.

The Georgian law, unlike the U.S. law, does not affect individuals and only involves fines for failure to make an annual declaration of income.

The U.S. law provides for prison sentences of up to five years.

The bill’s explanatory memorandum notes that most foreign-funded Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) refuse to register, so ‘it is necessary to adopt a law that will ensure the proper realization of the legislator’s will’.

It also notes that the new US Administration confirms that foreign funding of organizations has often been used to support destabilization in a number of countries, including Georgia.

The adoption of models similar to that of the US is necessary to limit ‘the influence of external forces on the activities of state institutions’.

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