What Article 181¹ prohibits
Article 181¹ of the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia penalises one specific act — carrying a cold weapon in a public place. The article lists those places expressly: the street, a yard, a stadium, a public garden, a park, an educational institution, a court, an airport, a cinema, a theatre, a concert hall, a cafe, a restaurant, public transport of every kind, a bus station, a railway station, and other places of public gathering.
The last item leaves the list open — the law also captures "other places of public gathering", so in practice the argument often turns on whether a particular location was one. The article does not restrict liability to any category of person: it describes conduct, so the question can arise for anyone carrying a cold weapon in such a place, unless an exception in the article's notes applies.
The sanction the law provides
Article 181¹ provides a single fixed sanction: a fine of 500 GEL, with confiscation of the cold weapon. The law sets no minimum-to-maximum band here — there is one amount, and it does not depend on what kind of cold weapon was involved or how long it was carried. Confiscation stands alongside the fine rather than as an alternative to it, so the sanction has two elements.
The article provides no warning and no lighter sanction, and no increased figure for a repeat offence. What it does carry is four notes that narrow its scope substantially — most cases here are decided on those notes rather than on the size of the fine.
What "carrying" means for the purposes of the Code
The Code defines the term itself. Under note 3, carrying a cold weapon means a situation in which a person has the cold weapon with them, namely where the person:
- is holding it in their hand;
- has it attached to their body;
- keeps it in their clothing;
- possesses it in such a way that they are able to use it immediately.
The last limb matters most, because it gathers the other three into one criterion: immediate availability for use. The law does not list which factual situations satisfy that criterion, so it is assessed on the circumstances of each case. That is why it is worth recording precisely where and how the object was kept at the moment of the check.