Article 232 of the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia determines the circumstances under which proceedings in an administrative offence case must not be started, and a case already started must be terminated. This norm is one of the most important guarantees of fair proceedings: not every fact recorded in a protocol must end with a penalty, and in the cases provided for by law a case either never enters proceedings or the proceedings already begun are terminated. On this page we describe each group of these circumstances in detail and explain why knowledge of this norm is a real defence tool.
Factual and personal grounds
The first group concerns the fact itself and the person. A case must not be started, and a started case must be terminated, where the fact of an administrative offence does not exist — the simplest and at the same time most frequently disputed question: the body must establish not only that an act was committed, but also that it contains the elements of a breach. Further, proceedings are impossible in respect of a person who, at the moment of the commission of the offence, had not turned 16 years of age. Where the person who committed the unlawful act or omission was insane, the case is likewise terminated. And finally, where the person against whom proceedings had been started has died, the proceedings are terminated for that tragic reason — the subject of liability no longer exists.