Georgia

State of compliance of Georgia's electricity acquis

According to the Protocol on the Accession of Georgia to the Treaty establishing the Energy Community signed on 14 October 2016 in Sarajevo, Georgia shall implement Directive 2009/72/EC concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and Regulation (EC) 714/2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity by 31 December 2018. Directive 2005/89/EC on security of electricity supply and infrastructure investment shall be implemented by 31 December 2019.

Georgia is expected to adopt a law harmonising its national legislation with the Third Energy Package by the end of 2018.

State of compliance of Georgia's gas acquis

Pursuant to the Protocol on the Accession of Georgia to the Energy Community Treaty, as signed on 14 October 2016, Georgia has committed to transpose and implement the Energy Community gas acquis by 31 December 2020. The country’s gas sector is currently governed by the Law on Electricity and Natural Gas which was adopted in 1999 and, despite later amendments, remains non-compliant with the Third Energy Package. Absence of compliant primary legislation leads to the lack of a comprehensive legal framework necessary for proper implementation of Third Energy Package rules. The new Law on Energy, as drafted with the Secretariat’s assistance, remains under discussion at ministerial level and is expected to be submitted for adoption later in 2018.

State of compliance of Georgia's oil acquis

Georgia holds no emergency oil stocks at present.  The Secretariat assisted Georgia in aligning its legislation with the Energy Community oil acquis. A five-year Action Plan (2018-2023) for oil stockholding, the Oil Stockholding Act of Georgia and the related annexes were drafted and consulted with all relevant stakeholders in the country. The Secretariat expects that both primary and secondary legislation will be adopted in the course of this year.

State of compliance of Georgia's infrastructure acquis

Georgia should adopt a legal act that will ensure the transposition of Regulation (EU) 347/2013, as adapted and adopted by the Energy Community, into its national legislation.

The national competent authority shall be designated, become operational and publish a Manual of procedures for the permit granting process, as soon as possible. The national regulatory authority shall publish the methodology and criteria used to evaluate investment in electricity and gas projects and the higher risks incurred by them as soon as possible.

State of compliance of Georgia's national regulatory authority

In accordance with the requirements of the Third Energy Package, GNERC is a single authority with nation-wide competences in regulating electricity and natural gas sectors in Georgia. Since GNERC was established by law, it would require a decision of the parliament to liquidate it. 

The competences of GNERC under the applicable legal framework largely reflect the requirements of Directive 2009/72/EC and Directive 2009/73/EC. The main shortcoming of GNERC’s regulatory scope is that in 2005 the power to approve Electricity Market Rules and Gas Market Rules – the key documents regulating electricity and gas markets in Georgia – was shifted to the Ministry of Energy of Georgia, which adversely affects GNERC’s regulatory authority.

State of compliance of Georgia's renewable energy acquis

Provisions regulating various aspects of renewable energy are incorporated in primary and secondary energy legislation of Georgia. The legal framework is currently being reviewed with the view of incorporating a special law dedicated to renewables as the requirements of Directive 2009/28/EC are not satisfied by Georgia’s existing legislation. The adoption of the renewable energy law is expected by the 31 December 2018 deadline. Furthermore, a National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) has been drafted but its adoption by the same end of 2018 deadline is pending. The country does not have a binding target for renewable energy to 2020 due to its late accession to the Energy Community.

State of compliance of Georgia's energy efficiency acquis

According to the Protocol on the Accession of Georgia to the Energy Community Treaty signed in October 2016, Georgia has delayed deadlines as regards the energy efficiency acquis than the remaining Contracting Parties: 31 December 2018 for the Energy Efficiency Directive; 30 June 2019 for the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive; and 31 December 2018 for the Energy Labelling Directive.

The most relevant progress made during this reporting period was the preparation of the Law on Energy Performance of Buildings, the Energy Efficiency Law, and the Law on Energy Labelling aimed at transposing the primary legislation required by the energy efficiency acquis. While the Law on buildings is already in the Parliament for discussion, the other two are not yet approved by the Government. The expectation is that all three will be adopted before the end of 2018.

State of compliance of Georgia's environment acquis

In Georgia, the Laws on Environmental Impact Permits and on Ecological Expertise, both adopted in 2007 and amended several times, regulate the environmental impact assessment procedure. Furthermore, several pieces of secondary legislation necessary for the implementation of the laws were adopted in 2013. The Law on Environmental Impact Permits defines the term “environmental impact assessment”, lists the activities that are subject to environmental impact assessment, lays down the procedure for mandatory public hearings as well the rules for the preparation and review of an environmental review. The provisions of the national legislation are, however, not yet in compliance with the provisions of Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU, which Georgia shall transpose by the end of 2018.

State of compliance of Georgia's climate acquis

Georgia has no dedicated legislation on climate change. However, the Law on Air Protection was amended to include some climate provisions in 2016 and a set of normative acts on climate (Law on Fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases), Law on Ozone Depleting Substances) was drafted in 2017 to fulfil the country’s commitments under the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, as well as the NDC.

State of compliance of Georgia's competition and State aid acquis

In order to adequately regulate competition in the electricity and gas sectors, it is essential to amend the Law on Competition and expand the scope of certain provisions to encompass the regulated sectors of the economy or extend the competences of the Competition Agency without further limitations to the regulated sectors.

The Law’s provisions on State aid need to be brought in compliance with Article 18 of the Treaty and Annex III to the Treaty in order to effectively comply with the State aid acquis.

State of compliance of Georgia's statistics acquis

The Protocol concerning the Accession of Georgia to the Treaty establishing the Energy Community sets a tight deadline, 31 December 2017, for the implementation of Regulation (EC) 1099/2008 and Directive 2008/92/EC, which was repealed in the meantime by Regulation (EU) 2016/1952.

Following the accession to the Treaty, Georgia was admitted to the EUROSTAT data transmission system and the officials from GeoStat have joined the Energy Statistics Working Group of EUROSTAT. 

GeoStat has achieved significant progress over the last few years in bringing its practices closer to what is required by the acquis on statistics.