Participants of the ‘This Concerns You’ civic campaign welcome the ongoing legislative process in the Parliament of Georgia regarding the introduction of the principles of so-called ‘Must Carry’ and ‘Must Offer’ to the legislation, which make all persons authorized to transit broadcasting obliged to transmit a general broadcaster.

It should be noted that as a result of recommendations submitted by participants of ‘This Concerns You’ at the time of committee discussions, the draft law has been improved. However, we believe that the effective period of the aforementioned commitments is an important deficiency of the draft law.

In particular, according to the proposed wording of the draft law, the said principles will be effective from the day of announcement of the date of elections to Election Day, which does not fully cover the election period. Therefore, the said law is not going to ensure that voters are provided with full information either in the pre-election period or about the election results and final assessments of the electoral process.

We believe that the draft law should fully cover the election period and should establish that the said principles apply until the publication of the final results of elections. Accordingly, we call on the Parliament of Georgia to take account of the recommendation on prolonging the effective period of the law and to reflect it in the draft law.