The Law of Georgia
On the State of Emergency
Article 1.
1. The state of emergency is a provisional measure, proclaimed according to the legislation of Georgia for
the purpose of safety of citizens of Georgia during war or mass disorders, violation of territorial integrity of
the country, in case of a military coup d’état or armed insurrection, ecological disasters and epidemics,
natural calamities, large crashes, epizootics or in other cases, when the state authorities are deprived of the
opportunity to implement their constitutional powers.
2. The purpose of the proclamation of the state of emergency shall be the prompt normalisation of the
situation, restoration of the rule of law and order.
Article 2.
1. The state of emergency throughout the whole territory of Georgia or any part thereof shall be proclaimed
by the President of Georgia.
2. The President of Georgia via mass media shall warn the population on the proclamation of the state of
emergency throughout the whole territory of the country or any part thereof, and within 48 hours after the
proclamation shall submit this decision to the Parliament of Georgia for its approval. If the Parliament of
Georgia has not approved the decision of the President of Georgia on the proclamation of the state of
emergency, from that moment the state of emergency shall be considered terminated.
3. During the state of emergency the President of Georgia shall issue decrees with the power of law, which
within 48 hours shall be presented to the Parliament of Georgia.
4. The decree issued during the state of emergency by the President of Georgia limiting the individual
rights and freedoms, listed in Articles 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 30, 33 and 41of the Constitutions of Georgia,
shall be authorised by the Parliament of Georgia. The text of the decree shall be transferred by mass media
within one day after signing, not less often than once in every two hours.
Article 3.
1. The motives for the proclamation of the state of emergency shall be specified in the decree of the
President of Georgia along with the terms and borders of the territory in which the state of emergency is
imposed.
2. The President of Georgia may prolong the state of emergency with the consent of the Parliament of
Georgia or terminate it ahead of schedule.
3. If the Parliament of Georgia considers that there are no preconditions stipulated in Article 1 of this Law,
served as the grounds for the proclamation of the state of emergency, the Parliament shall adopt the law on
its termination.
4. The decision on the proclamation, prolongation or termination of the state of emergency, shall enter into
force from the moment of its adoption, if the legislation of Georgia does not stipulate other rules, and shall
be published immediately.
5. With the termination of the state of emergency all decrees issued by the President of Georgia during the
state of emergency shall become invalid.
DCAF-Security Sector Laws of Georgia
Article 4.
During the state of emergency, and according to concrete circumstances, the supreme agencies of the
executive authority of Georgia, within the framework of their competence, observing requirements of the
legislation, may carry out the following actions:
а) to strengthen protection of public order and those facilities providing for the vital activities of
the population and the operation of economy;
b) temporarily to evacuate citizens from dangerous areas with the obligatory granting of stationary
or other temporary premises;
c) in the area in which the state of emergency is proclaimed - to introduce a special regime of
entry into and exit from that area of citizens;
d) in case of the need to limit the right of citizens and persons without citizenship to free
movement - to forbid them to leave their residence or other place of stay without the
corresponding permission, to evict transgressors, not being inhabitants of the given district, at their
expense to the place of their permanent stay or out of the borders of the district, in which the state
of emergency is proclaimed;
e) temporarily to withdraw from citizens firearms, steel, ammunition; and from the enterprises,
establishments and organisations - educational military technical equipment, explosive,
radioactive substances and materials, strong chemical and poisonous substances;
f) ban on assemblies, meetings, street processions and demonstrations, entertainment, sports and
other mass actions;
g) to change the plans on production and delivery of products of the state enterprises and
organisations, and also to resolve other questions connected with their economic activities, to
establish a special work regime of the state and private enterprises, establishments and
organisations; (7.05.2003)
h) if necessary, suspend from work during the effective period of the state of emergency of
directors of state enterprises, establishments and organisations, having strategic and vital value for
the population, and to appoint other persons to act temporarily for those directors; to forbid in
these enterprises, establishments or organisations the releasing of workers and employees at will,
except for cases of dismissal for valid reasons; with the termination of the state of emergency to
appoint the suspended persons to their posts, if there is no lawful grounds for their removal from
office;
i) according to the legislation, to use resources of state enterprises, establishments and
organisations for the prevention and liquidation of the consequences of the state of emergency; for
the same purposes to use property and material means belonging to another legal and also to
natural persons, only with corresponding compensation, which shall be given out after the
termination of the state of emergency;
j) to ban on strikes;
k) to involve able-bodied citizens in the enterprises, establishments and the organisations with an
average payment and also to involve them in the liquidation of consequences of the state of
emergency providing for the safety of conditions of their work;
l) to limit or ban on the traffic in arms, strong chemical and poisonous substances, alcoholic drinks
and spirituous substances, to forbid carrying of the military uniform and subjects of equipment
without the permission;
m) to impose a quarantine and to implement the obligatory sanitation and anti-epidemic measures;
n) according to the legislation to establish control over mass media;
o) to adopt special instructions on the use of the communication facilities;
р) to limit the traffic and implement the vehicle examination;
q) to declare a curfew;
r) to forbid the creation or activities, if not stipulated by the legislation of Georgia, of the armed
formations of citizens;
s) to check documents in places of a mass concentration of citizens, and at presence of the
corresponding grounds – to curry out personal inspection of citizens, examination of their things
and means of transport.
DCAF-Security Sector Laws of Georgia
Article 5.
1. The supreme agencies of the executive authority of Georgia shall have the right to cancel any decision of
subordinate bodies in the districts in which the state of emergency is proclaimed.
2. The National Security Council of Georgia shall co-ordinate the work on the prevention and liquidation of
consequences of the state of emergency .
Article 6.
During the state of emergency, the directors of enterprises, establishments and organisations shall have the
right, in necessary cases, to transfer workers and employees to another work not stipulated by labour
agreement without their consent.
Article 7.
1. During a curfew the citizens shall not be allowed to be in streets or in other public places or, to stay
outside of their premises without officially given passes and documents certifying their person.
2. Persons violating the order stipulated by Paragraph 1 of the present Article shall be detained by police or
military patrols before the termination of the curfew, as well as those who have no personal identity
documents, for no more than for three days; detained persons may be subjected to personal inspection, and
the inspection of their personal belongings may also take place.
Article 8.
Infringements of requirements, established according to Subparagraphs (c), (d), (f), (j) and (l) – (р) of
Article 4, and also requirements stipulated by Paragraph 1of Article 7 of this Law, shall entail the
administrative responsibility according to the legislation.
Article 9.
Under the decision of the President of Georgia and with the consent of the Parliament of Georgia, for
liquidation of consequences of the state of emergency, for maintenance of public order and for the safety of
citizens, the Military Forces of Georgia may be used, which shall operate according to this Law and other
corresponding normative acts.
Article 10.
1. With a view of the co-ordination of actions, management and interactions of forces involved in the
liquidation of consequences of the state of emergency, the temporary bodies may be created by the decree
of the President of Georgia; and, or, in the areas in which the state of emergency is proclaimed, upon
presentation of the National Security Council of Georgia, the representative of the President and (or)
commandant may be appointed.
2. In order to perform the normative acts issued by the President of Georgia the Representative of the
President of Georgia and (or) the commandant in a scene of action of the state of emergency shall issue
orders regulating questions of assistance to the regime of the state of emergency within the framework of
this Law.
Article 11.
At the proclamation of the state of emergency according to the decision of the President of Georgia, the
experts, who may assist the liquidation of consequences of acts of nature, large failures or accidents,
DCAF-Security Sector Laws of Georgia
epidemics, epizootics, may be called for the term of about two months. Not only the Georgian experts but
also the experts from foreign countries may be called. (7.05.2003)
Article 12.
The Parliament of Georgia shall have the right to change the territorial jurisdiction of civil and criminal
cases established by law during the state of emergency.
Article 13.
1. Citizens damaged during the state of emergency, or, in connection with the implementation of work on
its prevention or liquidation, shall be given the dwellings, compensated material damage, assisted in
employment and provided other necessary assistance by the state.
2. Conditions of the granting of dwellings, compensation of damage and rendering of other necessary
assistance, according to the legislation, shall be determined by the President of Georgia.
Article 14.
1. If, in the areas, where the state of emergency is proclaimed, the state authorities do not provide
appropriate implementation of their functions, the President of Georgia, by the decree, may introduce the
temporary governance according to the legislation of Georgia and before the termination of the state of
emergency.
2. In cases stipulated by Paragraph 1 of the present Article, powers of the corresponding state authorities
shall be suspended, and their functions shall be imposed on the body created or the official appointed by the
President of Georgia, who within the limits of their competence and according to the legislation, shall have
the right:
а) to take measures stipulated in Article 4 of this Law;
b) temporarily to implement functions of the local self-government and government bodies;
c) to make proposals in the supreme state authorities of Georgia on questions of state, economic
and social construction;
d) according to the legislation, to subordinate to itself the state enterprises, establishments and
organisations located in the corresponding areas, in the order determined by the President of
Georgia.
Article 15.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia shall immediately notify the Secretary General of the United
Nations Organisation on the proclamation of the state of emergency and on its termination.
Article 16.
1. This Law shall enter into force upon its promulgation.
2. The Law of the Republic Georgia “Оn the State of Emergency” of December 11, 1990 (The Gazette of
the Supreme Council of the Republic Georgia, 1990, No. 12, Article 364) shall be considered as invalid.
President of Georgia
Tbilisi
October 17, 1997
No. 972
Eduard Shevardnadze