Article 214: Violating the Rules for Moving Goods Across the Customs Border
Article 214 of the Criminal Code of Georgia establishes liability for violating the rules connected with the movement of goods across the customs border of Georgia. If you or your business partner has come under investigation over a customs violation, this page explains what this particular norm says: which acts are crimes, which features distinguish its parts from one another, and what punishment each part carries. Every detail on this page is taken from the text of the article itself; the details of customs procedures and other matters this article does not regulate are determined by other legislation.
The article consists of three parts, and the boundary between them depends on the quantity and the nature of the goods being moved. That is why the first check of any accusation concerns exactly these two criteria.
What Conduct Is Criminal Under the First Part
The text of the first part treats as a crime the transfer in or out across the customs border of Georgia of items moving in large quantity, when committed in violation of the established rules. The article names four forms of such violation directly:
- by evading customs control;
- secretly from customs control;
- by deceptive use of a document or of a means of identification;
- by entering false data into a customs declaration.
This list matters for the defense: the prosecution must establish that the transfer in or out was committed through one of these forms. Note also that the first part concerns items moving in large quantity — the criterion of large quantity is not numerically defined within the article itself and is established by other legislation.
The Second Part: Especially Large Quantity
The second part attaches a different punishment to the same act when it is committed with goods in especially large quantity. The form of the conduct remains the same — transfer in or out by evading customs control, secretly, through a deceptive document or false data in a declaration — and only the gradation of the quantity changes. The official boundaries of especially large quantity, like those of large quantity, are not stated in the text of this article and are defined by other norms. For the defense this is often the decisive issue: drawing the line between the parts correctly translates directly into the upper limit of the punishment.
The Third Part: Cultural Heritage and Items Made of Precious Metal
The third part separately prescribes liability for the transfer in or out across the customs border of Georgia, in violation of the rules, of goods belonging to special categories. Under the text, these categories are:
- a monument of cultural heritage;
- other cultural heritage recorded under the procedure established by Georgian legislation;
- a jewelry item made of precious metal;
- scrap of such items.
The peculiarity of this part is that criminality here is tied to the cultural, historical or material value of the goods, and not only to their quantity. The defense will examine both the category of the goods and the question of exactly which rule was violated in the concrete case.
Punishments Under Each Part, Separately
The article states the punishment for each part separately, and these boundaries must not be compressed. Part by part:
- first part — a fine or imprisonment for a term from three to five years;
- second part — a fine or imprisonment for a term from five to seven years;
- third part — a fine or imprisonment for a term from four to seven years.
As you can see, each part also allows a fine, but each part alternatively provides imprisonment — with a lower limit of three years in the first part, five in the second and four in the third. That is why working on the qualification is the most important step on the defense side.
How a Defense Lawyer Works on an Article 214 Case
A defense lawyer on this category of cases first compares the factual allegations with the text of the article: which part is charged, which form of violation is imputed — evading control, secret transfer, a deceptive document or a false declaration — and on which quantity category the accusation rests. A separate question is whether the goods fall under the categories of the third part. The detailed procedures of customs clearance, the criteria for quantities and the rules of investigation are not determined by this article — they are governed by other legislative acts, and comparing the facts with precisely those norms often decides the fate of the case.
A second line of work is the examination of documentary evidence. Where the accusation rests on a deceptive document or on false data entered into a declaration, the defense analyzes who prepared and processed that document, when and in what circumstances; where the charge is evading control or secret transfer, the actual circumstances of the movement itself are examined. At this stage every detail matters, because under the text of the article the existence of the crime is tied precisely to these forms, and the groundlessness of any one of them changes the whole qualification.
On Legal.ge you can choose a lawyer experienced in criminal and customs matters, review their profile and arrange a consultation. Early involvement of counsel is especially important in cases where the accusation rests on a large volume of documentation: the sooner the defense begins working, the more room remains for material corrections and for establishing the correct qualification of the case.