Farm operations in Georgia are governed by the food safety and animal feed code: breeding, driving, transporting, selling, and slaughtering animals, as well as producing plant products, all run under the special status of a business operator. If you run a farm, this page shows which registrations and veterinary or phytosanitary obligations apply to you and what fines are set for violations of the animal identification and registration rules.
Registration and approval as a business operator
The first step is registration: a business operator must register the relevant activity in the register of economic activities, and upon starting, ceasing, or changing any registered data connected with the activity — apply to the National Agency of Public Registry to amend the register. Carrying on activity as a business operator without registration is prohibited. Next comes the question of approval: approval is mandatory for a business operator whose activity is connected with the production or processing of food of animal origin, with animal feed, with non-food products of animal origin, or with the sphere of plant protection.
Approval is granted by the agency on the basis of inspection results, under rules approved by government decree, and operating a subject activity without approval is prohibited. At the same time, the law provides exceptions: approval is not required for an operator carrying out family production; primary production; production or processing using traditional methods; non-factory production in high mountain regions; direct supply of primary products to final consumers with small business status; direct supply of meat of poultry and lagomorphs slaughtered on the farm, or of game; storage of food not requiring temperature control; and certain retail formats. The agency may also, upon request, approve an activity that is not subject to mandatory approval — sometimes a voluntary approval is useful for market access.
Veterinary obligations on the farm
A business operator engaged in breeding, driving, transporting, selling, or slaughtering animals must: carry out measures against infectious diseases — preventive and liquidation measures, including vaccination, diagnostic examinations, and treatment; slaughter animals for the purpose of placing the resulting product on the market only under veterinary supervision; execute the agency's instructions on measures against infectious diseases and on identification and registration; cooperate with the authorized bodies; ensure the welfare of animals, including domestic companion animals; conduct driving, transportation, and sale of animals in the manner established by law; and ensure the lawful disposal of non-food products of animal origin.
Two duties are especially urgent: cases of infectious diseases and of mass poisoning of animals must be reported to the agency immediately, and an infected or diseased animal — or one suspected of being so — must not be moved. These requirements extend to family production subjects as well, as does the obligation to carry out anti-epizootic measures connected with animal products — a small farm is therefore not exempt from the veterinary regime.