Is the fine 70 lari or 120 lari?

It depends on which part of the article the case is brought under. Part 1 provides a fine of 70 lari. Part 2 provides 120 lari, where the same act is committed within the established boundaries of a state reserve, the strict nature protection zone of a national park, a natural monument, the core zone of a biosphere reserve, a world heritage site or a wetland of international importance. Check which part is cited in the decision.

What is a "territorial-functional zone"?

The term comes from the article itself. A protected area is divided into zones, and each zone has its own boundary. Article 55⁴ protects the markers of the boundaries of the protected area and of its zones alike. That is why it matters, in your case, which boundary the marker in question belonged to.

The marker was damaged or moved rather than destroyed. Does the article still apply?

The article names one act in its text: destruction of the boundary marker. Whether a particular set of facts answers that description depends on the circumstances, and this is precisely the kind of point a dispute can turn on. If the decision describes conduct different from what the article sets out, that discrepancy is worth raising.

The work was done under a contract with someone else. Does that end my exposure?

Not by itself. The article does not define the responsible person, so nothing follows automatically from a contract — but the document is still an important fact in the case, since it may show on whose instruction and within what limits you were working. Keep it in writing and put it into the file rather than describing it orally.

How quickly do I need to act?

As soon as possible. Article 55⁴ itself sets no appeal period and no rule for counting one — it provides only the act and the two fixed fines, 70 lari under Part 1 and 120 lari under Part 2. Those questions are settled by other provisions of the Code, so read the decision the day it reaches you and have the position on time limits established on your own papers.

Destroying the boundary markers of a protected area (Art. 55⁴)

What Article 55⁴ actually covers

Article 55⁴ of the Georgian Code of Administrative Offences penalises one specific act: the destruction of the boundary markers that mark out protected areas and their territorial-functional zones. A boundary marker is the physical object that shows, on the ground, where the line of a protected area or one of its zones runs. While the markers stand, the boundary is visible to everyone who comes near it. Once they are destroyed, the boundary survives only on paper and can no longer be read in the field.

Read the wording closely. The article speaks of the destruction of the marker, and that is the act described in both of its parts. Establishing that act is what the classification of the case rests on. The current wording of the article was arrived at through several amendments — Law of Georgia No. 759 of 12 June 1997, Law No. 3516 of 25 July 2006, and Law No. 2196 of 20 April 2018.

The penalty the law provides

The article is divided into two parts, and each carries its own fixed fine:

Part 1 — destruction of the boundary markers of protected areas and of their territorial-functional zones: a fine of 70 lari;
Part 2 — the same act, committed within the established boundaries of the territories listed below: a fine of 120 lari.

In both cases the law names a single amount rather than a range: 70 lari and 120 lari. No other type of sanction appears in this article, and the text contains no separately aggravated penalty for repetition. If the decision served on you states an amount other than 70 or 120 lari, that is worth checking before anything else — it may mean the case has been classified under a different article, or under more than one.

Where the higher fine applies

Part 2 sets out a specific list of territories. The 120-lari fine applies when the act is committed within the established boundaries of:

a state reserve;
the strict nature protection zone of a national park;
a natural monument;
the core (strict nature protection) zone of a biosphere reserve;
a world heritage site;
a wetland of international importance.

Location is therefore a fact to be established in its own right in this category of case. The difference between 70 and 120 lari turns entirely on whether the act took place inside the established boundaries of one of those territories, which means the case file has to show it rather than assume it.

Who the article can reach

The text does not define the responsible person separately. It describes conduct, not a profession, a post or a type of business. In practice the question arises most often for people doing physical work at or near the edge of a protected area: cultivating land, felling, building, moving machinery, putting up a fence, or laying a path or a road. A distinction matters here. Carrying out the work is not what this article punishes — Article 55⁴ punishes the destruction of a boundary marker. So the link between what you did and the loss of a particular marker is always a separate question in the case, and it is one that has to be supported by the material rather than inferred from your presence at the site.

How the case unfolds in practice

A case of this kind normally begins with a protocol and ends with a decision. What those two documents say is what matters most to you, because their content sets the boundaries of the dispute and determines what you are being asked to answer. When you read them, check the following:

whether the article is cited together with the specific part relied on — the first or the second;
whether the conduct is described with a time and a place;
whether the particular marker said to have been destroyed is identified;
whether the amount imposed matches the part cited — 70 or 120 lari.

Article 55⁴ says nothing about when or where a decision may be challenged, or how any such period is counted. What it provides is the act — destruction of a boundary marker — and the two fixed fines of 70 and 120 lari. The appeal questions are governed by other provisions of the Code, so read the decision as soon as you receive it and have the position established on your own file rather than assumed from this article.

What a lawyer changes, and what to bring

A lawyer cannot promise you an outcome, but can control the part of the case that is within your reach: reading the classification correctly, filing the complaint in time, putting a consistent position together, and submitting evidence while it can still be considered. In cases under this article the line of defence usually runs through two questions — whether the destruction of the marker is in fact the result of your conduct, and whether it in fact happened within the established boundaries of one of the territories listed in Part 2.

For a consultation, bring the originals or photographs of the protocol and the decision; a record of when the document was served on you; photographs and video of the site, dated if possible; any permit, contract or written instruction under which you were present or working there; and the contact details of anyone who witnessed what happened.