Archil Gorduladze: We even translated U.S. President and Department Head from FARA to avoid any misinterpretations that regulations differ in the U.S.

"Our political decision is to initiate a verbatim translation of the American law in the Georgian Parliament to ensure that nothing is lost in translation – we even translated 'U.S. President' and 'Department Head,' making direct references to the United States, so that no one could insinuate that the regulation is different in the U.S.," said Archil Gorduladze, Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, during the Parliament Bureau session while introducing the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

According to Gorduladze, the goal is to introduce the law with specific sanctions and penalties in the same form and scope as it exists in the U.S.

"This is an exact translation, and if anyone has concerns about the translation, we are here—submit any changes or alternatives that offer a better translation.

Regarding the agencies responsible for enforcing the law, we will need to determine additional agencies that will be responsible for its enforcement based on our reality.

We are open to discussing and clarifying the roles of officials and agencies to align with the Georgian context," Gorduladze stated.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act—a bill under this title—has been introduced in Parliament, which is a literal translation of the U.S. FARA law.

During the Parliament Bureau session, Alexander Tabatadze, Head of the Parliamentary Legal Department, confirmed that the initiative is a Georgian-language translation of the U.S. legislative act but contains legal and substantive inaccuracies that will need further clarification.

"The state agencies and officials responsible for enforcing the law in the U.S. are not compatible with the Georgian reality. For example, the law references Congress, the Library of Congress, the State Department, the Department of Justice, the Secretary of the Treasury, the District General Director, the U.S. President, and so on. There is also a need for amendments to relevant legislative acts.

Additionally, the law only includes one amendment—to the Criminal Code—while the drafts of other legislative acts are not attached. Furthermore, since we already have a similar legislative act in Georgian law, if the goal is to repeal the existing law, the bill should also include provisions for its annulment," Tabatadze explained.

"This is an exact translation, and if anyone has concerns about the translation, we are here—submit any changes or a better translation.

As for the executive agencies, additional determinations will be needed regarding which agencies, based on our reality, will be responsible for enforcing this law."

The Foreign Agents Registration Act has been forwarded to the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee for further discussion.