Georgia continues to introduce important legislative amendments through rushed Parliamentary processes, without the necessary domestic or international consultations and without properly analysing their compliance with European standards, said EU Ambassador to Georgia, Carl Hartzell in his remarks following the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code.

“Yesterday, the Georgian Parliament adopted amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia, which increase the scope of crimes allowing for covert investigative actions and the duration of these actions.

While amending the Criminal Procedure Code may be legitimate on security grounds, we note with concern that the current amendments significantly reduce Georgian citizens’ right to privacy, without providing sufficient safeguards against unjustified intrusion into their private lives and the protection of their personal data.

The EU expressed these concerns to the Georgian Parliament prior to the adoption of these amendments, suggesting that the new legislation be sent to the Venice Commission before finalization, to assess its compliance with European standards and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. We regret that the Georgian Parliament decided to proceed with the adoption of this legislation without such consultation.

We take note of the fact that Georgia continues to introduce important legislative amendments through rushed Parliamentary processes, without the necessary domestic or international consultations and without properly analysing their compliance with European standards.

We urge the Georgian Government to uphold its commitments to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of Georgian citizens, as well as to ensure adequate and effective safeguards against their potential abuse. We call on the Parliament to immediately ask the Venice Commission for an Opinion on this piece of legislation and to follow its recommendations.

We also call on the Government to inform the Diplomatic Community of the results of the promised investigation into the reported massive wiretapping of Georgian and foreign citizens, as revealed in September 2021,” EU Ambassador said.