Launching an online store in Georgia starts from a deceptively simple legal position: under the Law of Georgia on Electronic Commerce, the provision of information society services is not subject to licensing, permits or authorisation. That freedom does not leave e-commerce unregulated: the same statute imposes precise duties on providers and gives recipients a direct complaint mechanism before the agency. On this page the lawyers of Legal.ge explain these obligations, article by article, so that your online business rests on demonstrable compliance.
Licence-Free Provision and Its Limits
The starting point is Article 3 of the law: the provision of information society services is not subject to licensing, obtaining a permit or authorisation. For an online shop this means that no separate e-commerce licence exists — the service may be launched once ordinary business registration is complete.
The freedom has a border: Article 3 does not extend to activities subject to licensing, permit or authorisation regimes under other legislation. If what you sell online falls within a regulated sector, that sectoral regime applies first and the general rules of electronic commerce apply on top.
The Provider Information Duty
Article 4 obliges the service provider to ensure that at least the following information about the provider is permanently and easily accessible to recipients: the business name and legal form; the address; the e-mail address and other contact information; the identification or personal number registered in the registry of entrepreneurs and non-commercial legal entities; and, where one exists, the number of the licence or permit, data on its registration, its validity period and the name of the issuing authority.
Pricing receives separate attention: the value of the service must be indicated clearly and include detailed information on all costs, including delivery charges and other taxes provided for by Georgian legislation. The provider is responsible for the accuracy and accessibility of this information, and a higher sectoral standard does not release the provider from it.
Commercial Communications and Advertising
Article 5 treats commercial communications as part of information society services and subjects them to transparency requirements: it must be possible to identify a commercial communication clearly; it must be possible to identify unambiguously the natural or legal person on whose behalf it is sent; discounts, special offers or gifts, and the conditions for benefiting from them, must be easily accessible and understandable; and promotional prize competitions must be clearly identifiable, with participation conditions that are easily accessible and explained comprehensibly.
Unsolicited commercial communications — marketing sent without the recipient’s prior consent — are governed by the rules of the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection. For anyone building contact databases, consent architecture is therefore not optional.