Parliament to Discuss Ten New Bills on Business Activities in 2019
Government of Georgia has approved the 2019 legislative plan. The Forbes has collected information on those new bills that the Parliament will discuss starting spring 2019.
1. Bill on electronic commerce
The bill regulates activities for providing information services, responsibility of the bodies providing and receiving these services, regulations for signing electronic agreements. The bill will determines principles of the information services provider and receiver and principles of activity of consumers, their rights and responsibilities, responsibility of providers of intermediate information services. The bill is to harmonize the Georgian legislation with the DCFTA standards for intermediary service providers (ISP).
2. Bill on Financial Leasing, reciprocal deduction and derivatives.
The bill calls for shaping a necessary regulatory platform for reciprocal deduction, financial rental and derivatives, acquiring more legal guarantees for deals on financial markets and offering complex mechanisms for risks hedging. The bill explains that the financial market development generates new risks for investors and policy-makers. Consequently, it is important to respectively perceive similar risks, appraise and manage them, as provided by derivative instruments.
3. Bill on investment funds
Development of investment funds represents an important component of capital market reformation. Currently, the existing bill on investment funds does not regulate various aspects for establishing, operating and regulating investment funds. The bill introduces the forms or regulated and alternative funds, rules of administration and grounds of state regulation system, as well as relations in this sector.
The bill will enable issuers and investors to receive a full package of financial services based on modern technologies.
4. Bill on antidumping measures
The bill introduces key regulations for introducing and using antidumping measures in foreign trade and for implementing special research and the responsible body for the research, amid dumping imports on the Georgian customs territory.
The bill calls for introducing preliminary and special antidumping tariffs on dumping imports.
5. Bill on rehabilitation and collective payment to creditors
The bill was prepared because of the current gaps in the Georgian law on Insolvency Proceedings. The current legislation separates the commissionს of a rehabilitation manager and a company director. The bankruptcy manager is not responsible for attracting economic resources, there is no opportunity for transformation of the bankruptcy process into rehabilitation process. After bankruptcy, the remaining property goes to the state or LEPL – National Bureau of Enforcement, instead of partners and in some cases the rights of unsecured creditors are violated.
6. Law on RIA
The bill introduces a regulation impact assessment system in the legislative process with the aim to ensure comprehensive exploration of the issue prior to making legislative amendments, to enable officials to make right decisions based on proofs and select the most efficient mechanisms for resolving the existing problems. To this end, amendments should be made to the Georgian Law on Standard Acts and the institutional framework should be shaped, which is to make the regulation impact assessment an obligatory element of the legislative process.
7. Bill on Licensing and Permit Fee
The bill introduces diversified taxation system on permit fee for arranging casinos in the village of Grigoleti, Lanchkhuti Municipality, the village of Ureki, Ozurgeti Municipality and the City of Poti. At the same time, the bill also exempts arrangement of casinos at the hotels with at least 80 suites from the permit fee tax for 10 years after permit issuance.
8. Bill on Certification of Transport Stations
The bill introduces new permit terms for certifying transport stations and passenger transporting operators. Amendments to the Law on Licenses and Permits introduces two universal permits – permit for transporting passengers and carto transportation permit. As a result, the permit owners will be able to carry out both international and domestic regular and irregular transportation services.
9. Bill of amendments to Georgian Law on Securities
The bill introduces the institute of Crowdfunding to ensure the access to financial resources for startups and develop securities market.
10. Bill of Amendments to Private Security Service Business
The bill introduces a new platform for determining the licensing and controlling body. Under the bill, the private security service license will be issued by one of the LEPLs under Interior Ministry, not Interior Ministry.