Basic Requirements During Operation
A participant in road traffic must maintain such a technical condition of the vehicle as ensures the safety of road traffic. Responsibility for the technical soundness of the vehicle lies with its owner or the person who operates it. This means you cannot shift responsibility merely because someone else drives the car — ownership or operation itself imposes the duty to ensure soundness.
Periodic Technical Inspection
A motor vehicle in operation on the territory of Georgia and registered in the manner established by legislation is subject to periodic technical inspection at inspection centers accredited in the relevant field by the unified national accreditation body — the Accreditation Center. The inspection may be carried out at any inspection center, regardless of the place of registration of the vehicle or the person's legal address — so choosing a center in another city does not limit your rights.
The accreditation of inspection centers is carried out in accordance with the rules and procedures approved by the Accreditation Center, while the requirements for their buildings, equipment and the technical qualification of personnel are determined by a normative act of the Government. The requirements for periodic technical inspection, its periodicity and fees are likewise established by a normative act of the Government — it sets out the technical requirements whose compliance the inspection verifies, as well as the form of confirmation of passage, the periodicity and the fee for different categories of motor vehicles. The inspection center is fully responsible for confirming passage and for its lawfulness.
The inspection center is obliged to supply information about its activity, in the requested form, to the Accreditation Center and also to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Land Transport Agency. The Accreditation Center may evaluate the center's operation, including through video monitoring and on-site visits at any time, while the Agency monitors the inspection process. Liability for driving without passing the periodic technical inspection is determined by Georgian legislation.
Roadside Inspection
Vehicles of categories "M2", "M3", "N1", "N2", "N3", "O3" and "O4" are subject to roadside inspection — the checking of these vehicles in the roadside zone. The following matters are examined in particular:
- compliance with the rules of carriage of goods;
- compliance with the work and rest regime and the use of the electronic card of the control device (tachograph);
- the technical soundness of the vehicle;
- compliance with the rules for securing the load on the bed;
- compliance with the rules for using the relevant permit document connected with international carriage of passengers or goods;
- compliance with the rules for installation and calibration of the tachograph and the speed-limiting device;
- the mass and dimensions of the vehicle.
The Operation Ban
In order to protect the safety of road traffic it is prohibited: to operate a motor vehicle in the presence of the malfunctions established by the Government; to drive a motor vehicle whose windows are darkened or whose light transmittance is otherwise restricted in violation of the rule established by the Minister of Internal Affairs (the list of exceptions from this restriction is determined by the Minister); to drive, during the period and at the place or section of road determined by Georgian legislation, a vehicle any of whose wheels is not equipped with winter tyres of the appropriate characteristics; and, having regard to meteorological conditions, to drive a vehicle which, besides winter tyres, does not have anti-skid chains fixed on at least two driving wheels.
Restriction or Temporary Suspension of Traffic
The restriction or temporary suspension of a vehicle's movement on a road is imposed when the road is out of order, in conditions of restricted visibility, during natural phenomena, in the event of a natural disaster, accident, catastrophe or other emergency — in order to protect the safety of traffic, human life, health and property. It is likewise possible for carrying out individual operational-search and investigative actions, and in other cases determined by legislation. In the latter two cases the driver is obliged, on request, to present to the authorized officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs only an identity document.
Registration and Deregistration of Vehicles
In the presence of the circumstances defined by legislation, registration is mandatory for: a mechanical vehicle (except those determined by the Minister of Internal Affairs); a trailer designed to be towed by a mechanical vehicle; a sports car; the numbered aggregates of these vehicles; the auxiliary technical means of an agricultural machine; and also vehicles manufactured or remade in an individual, that is homemade, manner. Where the relevant circumstances exist, the deregistration of these registered vehicles is mandatory.
Registration results in the issue of a registration certificate and a state registration number or numbers, while for the auxiliary technical means of an agricultural machine a technical certificate of the form approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs is issued. Before registration, upon deregistration and in other cases, other kinds of registration marks are issued — a transit number, internal transit, a "TEST" number, a deregistration card, a temporary certificate and so on. When registering vehicles intended for the carriage of goods, the maximum permitted mass and the unladen mass must be indicated.
Registration, deregistration, the issue of certificates and marks, and the determination of the maximum permitted and unladen mass are carried out by the agency (a separate rule exists for vehicles owned by the Ministry of Defence, which the Ministry may register itself, and for surface electric transport, whose number plates are assigned by the relevant agency). Individual, homemade manufacture or remaking is permitted only in the manner established by legislation. The grounds for registration and deregistration, the procedures and conditions of issue are established by an order of the Minister of Internal Affairs, while the samples of the number, internal transit and "TEST" number are approved by the Government.