What does Article 264 provide?

The mandatory circle of circumstances the authority must establish at the examination of a case: the fact of the offence, the person's guilt, amenability to liability, mitigating and aggravating circumstances, property damage, and other necessary circumstances.

Is anyone punished under this article?

No — it is a procedural norm containing no sanction. Its breach becomes a ground for appealing the decision.

What happens if the authority did not establish a circumstance?

The decision rests on an incomplete basis: that defect is fixed in an appeal and may cause its annulment.

Why is guilt a separate question?

Because an offence may have been committed while the particular person was not guilty of it. These are two different questions, and each must be established separately.

Circumstances to be established and proof of guilt (Art. 264)

What Article 264 governs

Article 264 of the Code of Administrative Offences of Georgia defines the circle of circumstances that an authority (official) is obliged to establish when examining a case of an administrative offence. The norm contains no sanction — it is a procedural rule obliging the examining authority not to close a case on the basis of partial conclusions, but to investigate every mandatory question in full.

In practical terms this article is an important instrument of defence: where a decision does not establish one of these circumstances, that becomes a ground for appealing the decision. It is therefore in the interest of every fined person to know what ought to have been established in his or her case.