Parliament Committee resumes hearing of bill on transparency of foreign influence

The Legal Affairs Committee of the Georgian Parliament on Monday resumed deliberations on the bill on transparency of foreign influence, reintroduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party against public protests, in its second hearing.

The session will review the draft law, which calls for registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, “on an article-by-article basis”, the Parliament said.

Opposition MPs had called for postponement of the meeting of the Committee, however Chair Anri Okhanashvili said there were “no question marks regarding the procedure”.

Okhanashvili also expelled several opposition lawmakers from the session for “violating  procedural rules”.

The legislative body in mid-April approved the first reading of the bill that has sparked public protests and criticism by some of the country’s foreign partners.