Changes will be introduced to media accreditation rules in the Parliament of Georgia, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said at a briefing on June 8.
The amendments will affect both individual journalists and media outlets.
Under the revised rules, a first violation of accreditation regulations will result in a one-month suspension, while repeated violations may lead to suspension of up to one year. Previously, repeat violations carried a maximum six-month suspension.
Papuashvili also said that, depending on the severity and frequency of violations, accreditation for an entire media outlet may be revoked for up to one year.
He said the changes aim to bring Georgia’s parliamentary accreditation system closer to European standards.
“As you know, at one time, during certain decisions made by the European Parliament, I also said that we would study the accreditation system existing in the European Parliament and there were certain issues that were interesting to transfer to the Georgian Parliament,” Papuashvili said.
He added that the requirement for prior approval before conducting interviews with MPs will not be introduced.
“We saw during the last incident at the European Parliament, there was an indication that the journalist had not obtained prior consent for the interview, we do not need prior consent to this day,” he said.
In May, Papuashvili said the rules would be reviewed following a decision involving British-sanctioned pro-government broadcaster ‘Imedi’, which was banned from operating in the European Parliament for one year.
At the time, he described the European Parliament’s decision as a continuation of what he called a hostile approach, while also suggesting it reflected broader political concerns in Brussels.
Earlier, in May, the accreditation of online publication ‘Publika’ and studio ‘Monitor’ was terminated after their journalists were absent from Parliament for 10 consecutive weeks.
