Georgia's disputed "agent law" has now come into force. This was announced by Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, whose signature was the last formal step before the law takes effect.
The law will not have any immediate consequences, as the authorities have not yet compiled lists of which organizations are covered. The law stipulates that organizations that receive at least one-fifth of their funds from abroad are registered as "foreign interests".
Tens of thousands of Georgians have been demonstrating for a longer period of time against the new regulations. They are seen as a step away from the EU and closer to Russia, since the law is a copy of an authoritarian Russian regulatory framework.
