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.
