Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party Kakha Kaladze said that NGOs that decline to register with the Justice Ministry's registry will be fined and then have their bank accounts seized.
According to him, NGOs that would not register in the register of foreign agents will face financial sanctions, after which their accounts will be seized and the organizations will not be able to operate.
On June 3, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili signed the foreign agents bill into law, after which it took effect. The bill requires 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% of their funding from abroad.
The foreighn agents law was passed by the parliament on May 14. Georgian President Salome Zurabichvili vetoed the law on May 18. The parliament overrode the president's veto on May 28.
