Regulatory Filings Under Georgian Law: Which Regime Governs
Regulatory filings is a broad label, but in Georgian law the most detailed filing regime that binds companies directly is established by the law on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism: the accountable person must report suspicious transactions to the Financial Investigation Service. This page covers three angles: what must be filed, how and when, and what triggers the duty.
Note that this regime is not periodic financial reporting: it concerns one-off filings tied to a specific transaction. Periodic reporting by public issuers is regulated by separate legislation and is a distinct subject.
What Must Be Filed: the Duty Under Article 25 and Its Scope
The accountable person must submit to the Service a report on a suspicious transaction or on an attempt to prepare, conclude or execute such a transaction. The duty extends not only to concluded transactions but to the attempt stage — even if the transaction never completes.
A subordinate normative act of the head of the Service may, beyond the transactions covered by the first paragraph, define types of transactions that are reportable as such. Those types are determined on the basis of information disseminated by international organizations or available to the Service indicating the probability that the transaction will be used for money laundering or terrorism financing.
Upon the Service’s request, the accountable person must submit any information obtained in accordance with the law’s requirements about a transaction or its participants, as well as other information, including confidential information, that the Service needs to perform its functions.
How and When: Form and Deadlines for Filing
The report and other information contemplated by Article 25 are submitted to the Service electronically or in writing, in the manner established by a subordinate normative act of the head of the Service. The report on a suspicious transaction must be submitted on the very day a reasonable suspicion arises — the strictest deadline in the regime and, in practice, the one where failures begin.
The remaining deadlines are structured as follows: reports on transaction types defined by subordinate acts are filed within the deadlines those acts set; the report connected with the movement of cash or securities across the border is filed no later than 5 working days from the movement; and information requested by the Service is submitted no later than 2 working days from the request. An advocate may submit the report to the supervisory body instead of the Service, provided this does not conflict with the professional secrecy established by the law on advocates; in that case the supervisory body forwards the report to the Service unchanged on the same working day.
What Triggers the Duty: the Unusual Transaction
The event that most often activates the filing duty is an unusual transaction. Under the law, an unusual transaction is a complex or unusually large transaction or an unusual combination of transactions that has no apparent economic (commercial) or lawful purpose. Detecting such a transaction does not itself mean a report is due — it activates the duty to study.
The accountable person is obliged to study the unusual transaction, its purpose and grounds, and, where necessary, to conduct enhanced monitoring of the business relationship in order to detect a suspicious transaction. At the supervisory authority’s request, the accountable person must substantiate that it studied the unusual transaction and took reasonable measures to detect a suspicious one. Even the fact of study must therefore be documented.
Filings by Other Subjects: the Registry and the Revenue Service
The filing system does not concern accountable persons alone. The National Agency of the Public Registry must file a report on identified suspicious or unusual registrations of ownership rights in immovable property, and upon detection must file before the right is registered. If the Service does not exercise its statutory power within 24 hours of receiving the report, the registration proceeding continues.
The Revenue Service, for its part, must report to the Service the movement across the customs border of Georgia of cash or securities exceeding 30 000 lari or the equivalent of 30 000 lari in foreign currency. A report is also required on movement effected by circumventing customs control, covertly, or through incorrect declaration. This threshold also matters for a company’s tax and accounting practice, because it defines the boundary for controlling cross-border cash payments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the most frequent questions about filings.
On what day must a suspicious transaction report be filed?
On the very day a reasonable suspicion arises. The deadline is written directly into the law, and missing it is a violation.
In what form are filings made?
Electronically or in writing, in the manner established by a subordinate normative act of the head of the Service. Know the procedure in advance: the wrong form is equivalent to a missed deadline.
Within how many working days must requested information be submitted?
No later than 2 working days from the request. The request covers any information obtained about the transaction or its participants, including confidential information.
What is an unusual transaction and does it trigger a report?
An unusual transaction is a complex, unusually large transaction or an unusual combination of transactions without an apparent economic or lawful purpose. It activates the duty to study, and a suspicious transaction revealed as a result activates the report.
Does the duty extend to attempts?
Yes. A report is filed on attempts to prepare, conclude or execute a suspicious transaction, even if the transaction is never completed.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The lawyers of Legal.ge help you run the filing regime smoothly: we assess whether a specific transaction bears signs of suspicion, assist in substantiating the study of unusual transactions, and document the filing procedure. Contact us before the deadline is missed — the day a reasonable suspicion arises is an unextendable term.