Article 262 of the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia establishes the periods within which an authorised body (official) must hear an administrative offence case. Observing these periods is an essential condition of lawful proceedings: timely hearing protects both the interests of the offender and the questions connected with the limitation of penalties. On this page we describe in detail which period corresponds to which category, what happens where administrative detention is applied, and why the breach of a time limit is a ground for appeal.
The general rule — 15 days
Under the first part of the article, an authorised body (official) hears an administrative offence case within 15 days of the receipt of the protocol of the administrative offence and other materials, save for the exceptional category determined in the Code. This is the baseline period from which all other rules are measured: if a case does not fall within any special category, it is precisely this 15-day period that applies. Its running begins not from the commission of the offence but from the moment the protocol and materials are received by the body, which is why the exact recording of the dates on the documents is decisive.