---
title: "Defense Export Licensing"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/military-and-national-security-law-en/defense-export-licensing-en"
field: "Military & National Security Law"
description: "Defense export licensing in Georgia: issuing organ, application and permit conditions. Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-07-09"
updated: "2026-11-07"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Defense Export Licensing

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/military-and-national-security-law-en/defense-export-licensing-en

## The Route to a Military-Product Export Permit

The export of military-purpose products from Georgia is possible only on the basis of an export permit, and that permit is a discrete administrative act whose issuing organ is fixed directly by the law: the Ministry of Defence of Georgia is the competent organ which issues, for military products defined by the control lists, export, import, transit, brokering and technical-assistance permits. It matters greatly how the system is understood: unlike the United States export-control system, with its layered licence-exception architecture and multi-step jurisdictional thresholds, the Georgian permit is a single act of a single administrative organ, and its refusal can be challenged under the general administrative procedure. This page explains each stage of that route.

## The Application and the Issuing Organ

The permit seeker must be the direct performer of the licensed activity; it applies to the permit issuer and submits both the documentation determined by the Law on Licences and Permits and by other normative acts, and the documentation determined by a government decree — the latter including the rules on end-user certificates. In the cases determined by the law, the seeker first applies to the Ministry's permanent Military-Technical Commission for a recommendation, and only after obtaining it to the permit issuer; for an application filed in breach of that order, the proceeding does not even begin — it is forwarded to the commission. In giving its recommendation the commission takes into account the international obligations assumed by Georgia on non-proliferation of nuclear, mass-destruction and other weapons, and Georgia's national and security interests; its procedures and criteria are determined by a government decree, and — a detail of real consequence — the General Administrative Code does not apply to the commission's activity.

## The Permit's Validity and Conditions

The permit seeker must submit to the issuer all information necessary to obtain the permit or the recommendation. A permit is valid for the period indicated in it, and where no period is indicated it is deemed to be valid for twelve months from issuance. The permit holder bears the permit conditions established by the legislation, including: notifying the issuer of any change in the documents submitted for the permit; creating an internal control system ensuring compliance with the permit conditions; permanently maintaining an information base enabling the issuer to be given a report on the status of the licensed activity upon request; and not obstructing the issuer's control measures — on the contrary, facilitating them. The rules and methodology of control, and the matters of end-user certificates, are regulated by a government decree, and the same act may provide for electronic document exchange and for specific exceptional procedures in individual cases.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/military-and-national-security-law-en/defense-export-licensing-en

### Who issues the export permit?

The Ministry of Defence — for all permit types on military products.

### What is the permit's duration?

The stated period; if none stated — twelve months.

### What is the commission's role?

In defined cases its recommendation is obtained first; applications filed out of order are not processed.