What Article 190 of the Administrative Offences Code covers
Article 190 of the Code of Administrative Offences of Georgia establishes administrative liability for breaching the border regime, established by Georgian legislation, on the land section of the state border. The provision carefully distinguishes the context in which the breach occurs: the sanction differs depending on whether the violation took place during non-entrepreneurial or entrepreneurial activity, whether it was a first or a repeat commission, and whether the act caused damage to border infrastructure. Assessing precisely these circumstances determines the amount of the fine, which is why the qualification of the case is a matter for separate legal analysis.
The sanctions of the article extend to both physical persons and legal persons, and certain parts provide a stricter liability for a person who has already been administratively punished under this same article.
Breach during non-entrepreneurial and entrepreneurial activity
The first part covers a breach of the border regime committed while carrying out touristic, scientific-research, hunting, agricultural or other non-entrepreneurial activity. In that case the sanction is a warning or a fine of 20 GEL. This is the mildest liability under the article, and the law expressly allows a warning as an alternative to the fine.
The second part is stricter: a breach committed while carrying out industrial or fishing activity, servicing of a facility, construction, an activity licensable under the Law of Georgia on Licences and Permits, or other entrepreneurial activity entails a fine of 50 GEL for a physical person and 200 GEL for a legal person. Where such an act is committed repeatedly, the physical person is fined 100 GEL and the legal person 300 GEL.
Photo, video or aerial filming and its consequences
The fourth part treats as a separate offence the photographing, filming or aerial photography of an object of state border protection or of a means of protecting the state border — the fine for this is 50 GEL. If a breach covered by the first or second part caused hindrance to the movement of a border detail, the fine is 250 GEL; and if the breach caused damage to or destruction of border infrastructure — a border marker, technical means of border protection and other — the fine is 350 GEL. Notably, subparagraph "b" of the fifth part applies only where the damage caused to the infrastructure does not exceed 150 GEL.
The sixth part stiffens the liability for the case where an act under the fourth or fifth part is committed by a person who has already been administratively punished under this article — the fine then amounts to 400 GEL.
What obligations a person has in the border zone
The notes to the article impose several important obligations. Where a person lacks a pass issued for entry, temporary stay and movement in the border strip and border zone, or where the pass is refused at the location, the person must stop the activity and immediately leave the territory covered by the state border regime. In the case of photography, filming or aerial photography, the violator must immediately delete the recorded material, destroy the material photographic material, or hand it over to the authorised body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. Where this obligation is not fulfilled, the authorised body may apply measures to secure the proceedings. It is also important that releasing the violator from administrative liability and applying a verbal warning does not relieve the violator of the duty to perform these obligations.
How we can help
The lawyers of legal.ge assist at every stage of a case under Article 190: we assess under which part of the article the act should be qualified, verify the evidence in the file, defend you before the reviewing authority and prepare an appeal if the decision is unfavourable. Contact us for a consultation at any stage of the case.
To whom the article applies and under which part
Article 190 treats physical persons and legal persons differently. The second and third parts draw the distinction directly: for a breach during entrepreneurial activity a physical person pays 50 GEL and a legal person 200 GEL, and on repeat commission 100 and 300 GEL respectively. The sanction of the first part — a warning or 20 GEL — does not name a specific subject and generally covers whoever commits the breach. Qualifying the act requires establishing from the facts of the case what kind of activity the person was engaged in, whether the commission was repeated, and whether the act involved filming, hindrance of a border detail or damage to infrastructure — a qualification error in the protocol can ground an appeal.