Georgia: The working group of the Legal Affairs Committee, which works on the issues of further institutional strengthening of the Special Investigation Service and the Personal Data Protection Service, held its first session.
According to the chairman of the committee and the head of the working group, Anri Okhanashvili, all the interesting issues for the members of the working group were identified at the meeting, and at the next meeting, they will be discussed in terms of content and content, to what extent each of these proposals is argumentative, logical and to what extent it will contribute to the further strengthening of these services.
“Our main goal is to facilitate these services in the smooth implementation of their mandate as outlined in the 12-point plan.” Today, several issues were identified, including the further strengthening of both services in terms of financial and human resources. According to the representative of the Special Investigation Service, they are ready for the mandate of their service to be expanded in relation to the European Convention. So far, only in the context of Article 18 do they exercise investigative powers, although there is a willingness and interest on their part to investigate other Convention articles. According to the representative of the Personal Data Protection Service, it is in their interest to continue intensive work regarding the new Personal Data Protection Law. The civil society representatives named the issue of adding a prosecutorial function to the Special Investigation Service. We are ready to discuss these services with regard to the conclusion issued by the OSCE/ODIHR. So that all issues have been identified and we will start discussing them at the next meeting”, said Anri Okhanashvili.
The working group includes: members of the “Georgian Dream” faction and individual opposition groups, as well as members of the Special Investigation Service, the Personal Data Protection Service, the Government Administration, the Prosecutor’s Office, the State Security Service, the Public Defender, and civil society (the Georgian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum). Representatives.
The activities of the working groups are monitored by the representatives of the administration of the President of Georgia.
According to the plan, the bill should be initiated no later than October 19, 2022, and adopted no later than December 1.
