Tbilisi City Hall Increases Fines for Non-Georgian Signboards
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, March 8
Tbilisi Mayor’s Office has implemented a package of amendments which envisages increased fines for violation of advertising law.
The amendments will be sent to the parliament soon for consideration and approval.
The legislative package read that if signboards of organizations, restaurants, cafes, shops or other facilities are written only in foreign language, the physical persons will be fined by 1000 GEL instead of previous 200 GEL, while the juridical persons will be fined for violations by 3000 GEL instead of previous fine 300 GEL.
The information was released at Wednesday’s session in the City Hall, where the Mayor Kakha Kaladze spoke why it is so important to have Georgian inscriptions on all signboards or advertisements.
"We will pay great attention to this and we will be strict. We do not oppose anyone but we all should respect the Georgian alphabet,” said the mayor.
Kaladze instructed Tbilisi Supervision Service Head to check all signboards in the capital and give recommendations to the owners of the facilities to eliminate shortcomings by April.
“Whoever does not eliminate violations until April, they will be fined,” he stressed
Kaladze first mentioned the issue of non-Georgian advertisements and signboards during his pre-election campaign, when he promised to solve the problem.
The issue was again raised in late February, when the mayor urged everyone to respect Georgian language and use Georgian banners.
According to the Law on advertising, inscriptions or signs of the facilities on the whole territory of Georgia shall be written in the state language. They may be performed in foreign language as well, written along with the Georgian inscriptions.
