The First Deputy Minister of Justice said that the European Court of Human Rights will review the complaints filed by 3 organisations and 3 individuals concerning the Foreign Agents Registration Act [FARA] through the standard procedure, without any expedited process. As Beka Dzamashvili indicated, no ruling on the matter is expected before next year.

“It is important to note that the case is being examined at both the admissibility stage and on the merits. That is to say, the European Court has, amongst other things, raised the question of whether the applicants can be regarded as victims at all. It is possible that, following this examination, the application could be declared inadmissible altogether.

The applicants noted that the case has been assigned significant-impact status, and the matter was presented in such a way as to suggest this confers some special privilege upon the application. The case is indeed precedent-setting, given that the law itself is modelled on legislation in force in the US. As the public is aware, several European states have already adopted similar laws or are currently in the process of doing so. Accordingly, the European Court’s judgment will be of precedential value and will bear not only on Georgia’s situation, but will have implications for regulations in force in other European states as well”, - said Beka Dzamashvili.

The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association announced today that the Strasbourg Court has opened substantive examination of the case concerning the FARA.