The Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee discussed and endorsed the legislative package, envisaging the Capacity Building of the Special Investigation Service and the Personal Data Protection Service as Georgia is expected to accomplish 12 recommendations of the EU required for receiving the candidate status.
As Anri Okhanashvili, the Chairman of the Legal Issues Committee notes, the scope of the Special Investigation Service is expanding in two directions – “The Service will have the opportunity to search for all the crimes stipulated by the Criminal Code, which are related to the fact of violation of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms or any article of its additional protocol established by the legally binding decision of the European Court of Human Rights. According to the second amendment, if the Service, during the investigation conducted within the scope of its competence, identifies specific articles in relation to a specific person: excess of authority, illegal detention, etc., it will be authorized to investigate the hereof articles as well. Regarding the Personal Data Protection Service, the draft law stipulates the increase of the guarantees of social protection of employees. It provides for the possibility of granting special status to all employees of the service. At this, a new rule to be introduced will strengthen the effective communication between the head of both services and the Parliament of Georgia. It is clearly defined in the Rules of Procedure that upon the request of the heads of both services, their proposals will be immediately heard by the relevant committees of the Parliament.”
The draft law is prepared by the Working Group on Elaborating EU-Proposed Legal Changes.