The hygienic certificate — a document once widely sought as proof of a facility's or product's sanitary conformity — no longer exists in Georgian law. The current food safety code replaces this instrument with a different, modern system: registration as a business operator, approval where required, and permanent mechanisms of state control. On this page we explain what has replaced the hygienic certificate and which obligations you carry, as a business operator, in the sphere of hygiene and safety.
What replaced the hygienic certificate
The abolition of the hygienic certificate means that instead of one-off documentary proof, the law demands a continuous, accountable status: a person who produces, processes, or distributes food must be registered as a business operator, and its activity must conform to statutory requirements at every stage. Where approval is required, that status is granted on the basis of inspection results — and inspection is precisely the mechanism that once performed the certifying function. This approach allows the state to supervise real processes rather than a document, and it shifts the center of gravity of hygiene compliance onto the operator's own continuous systems.
A business operator must carry out, in the manner established by legislation, the registration of the relevant activity in the register of economic activities. Upon starting or ceasing the activity, or changing any registered data connected with it, the operator must apply to the National Agency of Public Registry to amend the register. Carrying on activity as a business operator without registration is prohibited — and from the hygiene perspective this rule is decisive, since registration is what connects an enterprise to the control system.
Mandatory approval — who it covers
Approval is a distinct institution. Mandatory approval applies to a business operator whose activity is connected with: the production and/or processing of food of animal origin; the production, processing, and/or placing on the market of animal feed defined by government decree; non-food products of animal origin defined by government decree; and the sphere of plant protection defined by government decree. Approval is carried out by the agency on the basis of inspection results, according to rules approved by government decree, and operating an activity subject to approval without approval is prohibited.
At the same time, the law provides exceptions for food of animal origin: 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 or consumer-facing retail points with small business status; direct supply of meat of poultry and lagomorphs slaughtered on the farm, or of game, with small business status; storage of food not requiring temperature control; and certain retail formats. The agency may, at the operator's request, approve an activity not subject to mandatory approval.
Types of state control
Supervision over hygiene and safety is organized along three lines. The first is food/feed safety control — action taken to establish conformity with safety and labeling requirements, and with requirements for providing consumers with information about food. The second is veterinary control — action establishing conformity with requirements in the veterinary sphere. The third is phytosanitary control — action establishing conformity with phytosanitary requirements in the sphere of plant protection. Together these three types define the perimeter within which hygiene obligations are verified.