Acquiring, keeping or carrying a signal weapon without a permit (Art. 182³)

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I have a signal weapon and no permit. What am I facing?

Part 1 of Article 182³ provides a fine of 600 GEL, with or without confiscation of the weapon. Confiscation is therefore possible but not automatic — it is a separate question decided in the case, and the wording of the decision will show whether it was applied.

Can I still obtain a permit after being fined?

Where confiscation was not applied as a penalty in a part 1 case, the note to the article gives the person 30 days to obtain the relevant permit. Within that period no administrative liability is imposed for acquiring, keeping or carrying the signal weapon without that permit.

Does that 30-day window apply to every case under this article?

No. The note carries two conditions. It concerns only an offence under part 1, and only a case in which confiscation was not applied as an administrative penalty. If either condition fails, the note does not operate, and nothing in the article extends it to part 2.

I gave the weapon to a friend. Is that the same offence?

That belongs to a different part: part 2 covers the unlawful transfer or alienation of a signal weapon. The fine there is also 600 GEL, but the text provides for confiscation of the weapon without the qualification found in part 1. The words "or without" do not appear in part 2.

What changes on a second occasion?

Part 3 raises the fine to 1,000 GEL with confiscation of the weapon. Part 4 raises it to 2,000 GEL with confiscation and adds a restriction of weapon-related rights for 2 years. Each of those steps depends on an earlier penalty actually existing on the record.

4 min·22 Aug 2026

What Article 182³ regulates

Article 182³ of the Georgian Code of Administrative Offences deals with breaches of the rules on the circulation of signal weapons. The provision is comparatively new: its current wording rests on Law of Georgia No. 452 of 4 April 2025. That recency explains much of what happens in practice: people often hold a signal weapon that has been in the household for years, in circumstances where a permit had never been in question. The article does not define the term itself. What counts as a signal weapon does not follow from Article 182³ and is a matter for other legislation, so where that is disputed the answer comes from the grounds the report relies on.

The article covers two situations: holding a signal weapon without the relevant permit, and passing such a weapon to someone else or otherwise alienating it. The fine is the same for each; the confiscation regime is not, and that difference is often the point that matters most.