The Georgian Dream party adopted three repressive laws to restrict the activities of civil society organizations:

• May 28, 2024 – Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence (appealed to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of 140 subjects. The court communicated the case in a timely manner)

• April 1, 2025 - Foreign Agents Registration Act, the so-called FARA;

• April 16, 2025 - Amendments to the Law on Grants, according to which, the donor is obliged to apply to the Anti-Corruption Bureau for consent in order to issue funding. Any grant issued without following these procedures will result in the grant recipient being fined double the amount of the grant received.

At the moment, all three laws are in force, however, FARA will come into effect on May 31, 2025.

Georgian Dream, during the process of adopting the Foreign Agents Registration Act and subsequently, tried to present that it was a translation of the FARA in force in the United States. However, the Georgian Dream’s rhetoric regarding the scope of the possible application of this law clearly differs from the practice of the United States. The adoption of the Foreign Agents Registration Act in the United States was conditioned by the political context existing at that time (1938) - the need to deter and combat hostile propaganda during World War II. Later, the practice of using it spread to the activities of lobbyists of foreign countries. FARA has not been directed against independent non-governmental organizations in the United States.

It is noteworthy that in February 2025, the Attorney General of the United States, Pamela Bondi, while speaking about the risks of using FARA for repressive purposes, noted that: “Criminal prosecution under the Foreign Agents Registration Act should be limited to cases where the alleged conduct, by its nature, is close to the type of traditional espionage carried out by government officials of foreign countries.”

If interpreted in good faith, this law should not pose a threat to civil society organizations in Georgia either.

The fact that civil society organizations obtain funding from various donors does not make them entities acting in the interests of the foreign principal. As a rule, civil society organizations obtain funding in accordance with the mission, statutory goals and strategy of their organization and the needs of society, and in implementing them, they act within the framework of their own organizational independence. When implementing projects, organizations are guided by the interests of society and rely only on their own organizational views, goals and guidelines; the personnel hired by organizations are fully controlled by internal organizational rules and their activities are not supervised by anyone other than those designated in accordance with the organization's structure. Therefore, the term “control” cannot be used broadly so that to equate the conclusion of a grant agreement with the donor organization and the fulfillment of the terms of the agreement with control.

Thus, if interpreted in good faith, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) should not be used in Georgia against civil society organizations, however, the Georgian Dream rhetoric and the unpredictable nature of the law, as well as the lack of trust in the institutions involved in the enforcement of this law (Anti-Corruption Bureau, Prosecutor’s Office, court) and the degree of their independence, pose a danger that Georgian Dream will try to restrict the activities of independent civil society organizations by using this law, which may have irreparable consequences.