The Legal Nature of Sponsorship Agreements
Georgian legislation knows no separate, codified contract type for sponsorship — it is an innominate agreement resting on Article 319 of the Civil Code: subjects of private law may, within the limits of the law, freely conclude contracts and determine their content. They may also conclude contracts that are not provided for by law, provided they do not contradict it. This means the sponsorship deal — the sponsor's contribution in exchange for support of an activity or event — stands on precisely that freedom, and its content is assembled by the parties' agreement. The same article sets boundaries: a party occupying a dominant position on the market bears an obligation to contract and may not groundlessly offer its counterparty unequal terms, while a person acting for non-commercial purposes or to satisfy vital needs cannot groundlessly be refused conclusion of a contract. The frame is thus liberal at its core but protective at its edges, and large sponsors in particular must remember that market power narrows contractual freedom.