Georgia: Parliament has backed an increase in sanctions for damaging or arbitrarily cutting down green plants in the capital. At the plenary session, the amendments to the Law on the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Law on Special Protection of Green Plants and the State Forest Fund within the borders of Tbilisi and the surrounding area were discussed and unanimously adopted in the third reading.
According to Maia Bitadze, chairwoman of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, one of the initiators of the bill, the purpose of the legislative changes is to tighten sanctions for illegal cutting of timber and shrubs in the capital and damaging them.
The legislative package also introduces sanctions for those who issue illegal phytosanitary findings in connection with trees, which automatically becomes a precondition for the removal of trees from the environment.
According to the rapporteur, another novelty included in the legislative package is the violation of plant care rules, which is also punishable.
Arbitrary pruning of green plants is currently subject to a fine of 500 GEL and a fine of 1000 GEL for repeating the same action. With the legislative changes, the fine of 500 GEL will be changed to 5,000 GEL, and the fine of 1000 GEL to 10,000 GEL.
According to Maia Bitadze, a new mechanism is introduced in the legislative package, which envisages the imposition of a sanction in case the type of green plant cannot be determined. According to him, part of the damage and compensation remains unchanged.
