Experts from the Council of Europe have criticized a controversial law on the disclosure of foreign funding in the South Caucasus republic of Georgia as undemocratic.
The law on the transparency of foreign influence should be withdrawn, said a statement published on Tuesday evening in Strasbourg by the council's Venice Commission - a rule-of-law advisory body.
Despite weeks of mass protests, the governing majority of the Georgian Dream party last week approved the law, which seeks to limit foreign influence on non-governmental organizations, tightening accountability for aid organizations and independent media that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
"The Venice Commission strongly recommends repealing the Law in its current form, as its fundamental flaws will involve significant negative consequences for the freedoms of association and expression, the right to privacy, the right to participate in public affairs as well as the prohibition of discrimination," reads the opinion by the expert commission.
"Ultimately, this will affect open, informed public debate, pluralism and democracy," it continues, adding that the commission "regrets that the Georgian parliament did not wait for its opinion before adopting the law."
The Venice Commission said it considers the law to be incompatible with European democratic and human rights standards. It also criticized the fact that the European requirements for democratic legislation were not met, for example because there had been no real public debate or consultation.
The law is not yet in force. Pro-Western Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has vetoed it, though her veto can be overruled by parliament.
The EU sharply criticized the law and warned that it could set the country back in its efforts to become a member of the bloc. The Georgian leadership, on the other hand, forbade interference in its internal affairs.
Opponents of the law fear that the Georgian leadership could use it to target dissidents, following the example of an internationally criticized law against foreign agents in Russia.