Does a Restaurant Licence Exist?
In Georgia a restaurant opens without a separate restaurant licence: the Code on food safety, veterinary and plant protection regulates the field through food safety requirements, through the implementation of a system based on hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), and through the types and mechanisms of state control. The practical consequence is this: a business operator does not need a one-off permit — it must continuously comply with safety requirements along the entire production chain, and state control verifies that compliance.
Food Safety Requirements and Harmful Food
Food placed on the market must satisfy the food safety requirements determined by Georgian legislation, and the placing of harmful food on the market is impermissible. Food is considered harmful if it endangers human life or health, or if it is unfit for human consumption. In determining safety, account must be taken of conformity with the requirements governing production, processing, distribution and primary production; the possibility of use by the final consumer in accordance with its intended purpose; any information supplied to the consumer, including information on the label; not only the possible immediate, short-term and long-term effects of the food on the consumer but also its effect on subsequent generations; possible toxic cumulative effects; and, where the food is intended for a special category of consumers, the level of its impact on their health.
Where food is harmful, the entire batch is deemed harmful unless a detailed inspection confirms that the remaining part of the batch satisfies the food safety requirements — and the costs of that inspection are reimbursed by the business operator. Moreover, conformity with the requirements does not prevent the Agency from taking appropriate measures to restrict or prohibit the placing of the food on the market, or to withdraw it from the market, where a justified suspicion exists that the food, despite its formal conformity, is not safe. For a restaurant this means that even a formally compliant product can, once doubt arises, put the entire chain at risk.