News

Date: 10/10/2023

The Legislative Herald of Georgia participated in the European Forum of Official Gazettes (EFOG) with the status of a potential candidate country for EU membership.

 

The Forum was hosted by the Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Germany. Georgia’s official gazette was represented at the Forum by Natia Chirikashvili, Chairperson of the Legislative Herald of Georgia.

 

As part of the event, representatives from the participating countries discussed current challenges faced by official gazettes and future opportunities, in particular, the ways of making access to law easier for the public. They also discussed the possibilities of implementing AI in practice and the associated risks, such as the protection of data confidentiality and safety, as well as data quality and reliability. During the event, the importance of citizen e-participation in improving legislation was also discussed. However, the risks associated with the influence of social media in this regard were also highlighted.

 

The ways of simplifying the law drafting process through digitalisation were also discussed using the examples of Germany and France.

 

The European Forum of Official Gazettes brings together some 40 official gazettes from EU Member States and non-EU countries. Established in 2004, the Forum has been open to non-EU countries since 2005, providing a unique opportunity to share relevant expertise and international experience. The Legislative Herald of Georgia joined the European Forum of Official Gazettes (EFOG) as a potential candidate country for EU membership in 2023.

Date: 07/11/2017

The Legal Entity under Public Law (LEPL), operating within the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, called the Legislative Herald of Georgia (‘the Herald’), has moved to a new building. For the first time in its history, the Herald has a comfortable and well-furnished office specially adapted to its needs. This new office, the second office of the Herald, was opened by the Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani and the Chairperson of the Legislative Herald Nika Akhalbedashvili.

 

Henceforth, the Herald will have the opportunity to enhance the development of strategic projects. One of its priorities is to make the resources it offers to the public accessible from any device. For this purpose, the official application of the Herald has been developed for the iOS and Android platforms. Users, who previously used the website of the Herald on their mobile phones or tablet PCs, are now able to enjoy the services of the Herald by the use of the application easily and conveniently. The application can be downloaded from the links below:

 

► iOS - https://goo.gl/wtLoFv

► Android - https://goo.gl/DutPwN

 

Significant work is done by the Translation Centre that works in accordance with European standards. The Centre, which provides professional translation of legislative acts, was transformed during the visa liberalisation process on the initiative of Thea Tsulukiani. The establishment of the Translation Centre became necessary because there were few professionally translated versions of legislative acts, the translations were fragmentary and none of them had legal effect, which created problems for both Georgian citizens and aliens. There were content-wise discrepancies between different translations, which allowed for wrong interpretations and could mislead interested persons. This structural unit was established to eliminate this very problem.

 

The goal of the Translation Centre is to establish a unified and comprehensive legal framework that would maximally facilitate the process of the European integration of Georgia, and bringing the the EU legislation closer to the population of Georgia. It has become easier for foreign citizens to access the legislation of Georgia, as they can now view any legislative act in the English language. The Legislative Herald of Georgia regularly publishes EU legislative acts on its website, which is very important for users in the legal sphere, as well as for other interested users.

 

Within the framework of the Memorandum of Mutual Cooperation signed by the Legislative Herald of Georgia, Tbilisi Court of Appeals and the Department of Common Courts, the Herald has equipped, free of charge, the court rooms at Tbilisi Court of Appeals and Tbilisi City Court with personal computers and UPSs. These computers have made the Georgian normative base fully accessible to parties to proceedings.

 

Moreover, on the initiative of the Minister, the Legislative Herald publishes printed versions of legislative acts. The catalogue of publications can be found on the website (http://matsnebooks.gov.ge./Book) and any user may order any publication and enjoy free home-delivery service.

 

It is also the goal of the Herald that everyone has access to the original versions of the normative acts applicable in Georgia that are in the legislative base, to the changes made thereto and to the systemised (codified) versions of the normative acts, as well as to international agreements and other informative documents. Moreover, on the initiative of the Minister, consolidated versions of laws published by the Herald have become available free of charge. The project, which would allow users to download legislative acts from any device by the use of Dropbox and Google Drive, has almost been completed. A Herald website user is now able to listen to audio versions of legislative acts. The offline search system is now activated on the website and can be used without internet connection. This service is extremely important for judges, lawyers and prosecutors. The work to integrate the search system application of the Legislative Herald of Georgia into the voting equipment designated for Members of the Parliament of Georgia was completed in 2014.

 

The Legislative Herald of Georgia has also taken into account those members of the population for whom access to information is especially difficult. In particular, a specially-created domain https://voice.matsne.gov.ge/ designated for, and adapted for use by, the blind and visually impaired, is currently being tested.

 

One of the successful projects of the Legislative Herald is the Matsne Club (the Herald Club). This is the first debating platform for lawyers, where young people can argue and discuss legal issues with recognised experts, and where they can express their opinion and offer suggestions with regard to current reforms and other important issues. The Matsne Club is designed for young people and brings together those beginner specialists or young people interested in law who are willing to meet successful lawyers and discuss interesting and important issues with them and ask questions. The new office of the Legislative Herald of Georgia allows for the holding of presentations, discussions, and public lectures on interesting issues in the Club. The mentors of the Club will be representatives of executive and legislative authorities, judges, and lawyers. The activities of the Club are planned and directed by the Club members. The subject of each public lecture is selected with their participation.

 

The Legislative Herald of Georgia was established in 1998, and its electronic version was put into operation in 2011.

 

Date: 12/02/2016

Another new feature for our corporate and individual users!

Now you can subscribe to changes in the legislation of Georgia by choosing a field of your interest using our thematic search engine.

 

For example, if you are interested in agriculture, you can subscribe to all amendments made to any legislation in force during a specified period relating to agriculture. You can do this on the Legislative Herald website (www.matsne.gov.ge). All you have to do is select the desired field (Select topic) and period of subscription from the thematic search field (under Subscription for new documents) on your user profile.

 

Keep pace with the country's developments! Keep updated on changes to the legislation!

Date: 11/11/2015

The Minister of Justice of Georgia Tea Tsulukiani handed over ILEC Certificates (International Legal English Certificate – a Cambridge English Language Assessment Certificate) to 25 employees of the Legislative Herald of Georgia Translation Centre. The Director, faculty and staff members of the British Council Georgia attended the event.

 

The employees of the Translation Centre of the Legislative Herald of Georgia completed a specially tailored six-month training course. The aim of the training course was to establish a local team of highly qualified legal translators, revisers, editors, and legal translation trainers at the Translation Centre of the Legislative Herald of Georgia. Establishing such a team is important for the accessibility of the legislation of Georgia in English and for the facilitation of the successful implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agenda.

 

The harmonisation of the legislation of Georgia with that of the EU, as part of facilitation of the European integration, became even more important after the EU and Georgia signed the Association Agreement.

 

An agreement of institutional significance that was signed between the Legislative Herald of Georgia and the British Council Georgia on 9 December 2014 provided for a special programme, as part of which the Legislative Herald of Georgia announced a selection of translators for the Translation Centre. As a result, 25 candidates were selected, who then completed a specially tailored training course and successfully passed an exam. Today certificates were handed over to them. 10 out of the above-mentioned 25 training course participants were also trained as trainers and will train new colleagues.

Date: 18/09/2015

Chairman of the Legislative Herald of Georgia Giorgi Pataridze attended the European Forum of Official Gazettes held in Paris. Representatives from 35 European countries attended the event.

The Forum participants talked about the potentials of future development of an official gazette, reviewed the specifics of operation of an official gazette, shared their experience and discussed the issues of mutual collaboration.

During a working meeting great attention was drawn to an electronic application, which intends to combine, on one hand, legal acts of European countries, and on the other hand, judgments of the European courts. The application will help interested persons search for a document, enhance access to judgments made in the field of justice, and make electronic services of official gazettes more flexible.

As the Forum participants concluded, in order for this application to operate properly and efficiently further meetings need to be organised, which will contribute to joint and coordinated cooperation of the European official gazettes.

Date: 31/07/2015

A Memorandum of Cooperation was signed by Tbilisi City Court, LEPL Department of Common Courts, and LEPL the Legislative Herald of Georgia on 28 July 2015.

Mamuka Akhvlediani, Chairman of Tbilisi City Court, Giorgi Pataridze, Chairman of the Legislative Herald of Georgia, and Shota Karchava, Chairman of Department of Common Courts signed a Memorandum that provides for making services of the Legislative Herald of Georgia accessible in the courtrooms.

Under the memorandum, the Legislative Herald of Georgia will install 129 branded desktop computers in 43 courtrooms.

The project aims to facilitate the administration of justice by providing maximum accessibility to legal and normative acts of Georgia for participants in the court proceedings, and to promote services of the Legislative Herald of Georgia.

Date: 12/02/2015

An official application of the Legislative Herald of Georgia on IOS and Android platform has been created. Users, who use our website through their mobile phones or tablet PCs, are now able to receive our service through the application in a simple and comfortable way.

IOS         Android

 

Date: 21/01/2015

After the EU-Georgia Association Agreement was signed on 27 July 2014, it is now more important to facilitate the process of European integration which is our country’s priority. The Ministry of Justice of Georgia plays a special role in building a country based on democratic principles and acceleration of the process of European integration.

An agreement of institutional significance that was signed between the Legislative Herald of Georgia and the British Council Georgia on 9 December 2014 serves to facilitate this process. The agreement provides for a special programme, as part of which the Legislative Herald of Georgia announced a selection test for translators of the Translation Centre. The selected candidates will complete a course of training specially designed for them and will also prepare for an ILEC (International Legal English Certificate) exam. Successful candidates will acquire an official, internationally recognised qualification and a certificate in Cambridge English: Legal (ILEC).

Our goal is to establish at the Translation Centre of the Legislative Herald of Georgia an in-house group of highly qualified translators and expert trainers in translation of both English and Georgian legal literature, which is essential for creation of a legislative framework in English and successful implementation of the Association Agenda between the EU and Georgia.