On December 3^rd 2012 ICC Georgia HR commission held a follow up meeting to review new developments regarding current labour code amendments. Special expert, Tamar Kovziridze was invited to the commission in order to provide independent evaluation of the Codex. International Investors Association attended the meeting too. Several commission members expressed their concerns about particular articles of the labour code and supported their arguments with clear examples of conflicts that may occur between the Government legislations and internal company policies. Moreover, ICC Georgia HR commission detected numerous facts of inappropriate interpretations of original International labour organization (ILO) developed Codex, vague statements, several rushed ideas that can potentially fuel irresolvable and unjustified disputes. The commission has set several priorities as well as an action plan in order to avoid otherwise imminent danger, threatening Georgian Businesses. ICC Georgia will continue being heavily involved in all the future decision making regarding the law, attending parliament meetings and working closely with the officials involved in regulating amendments to the codex, in order to defend interests of Georgian businesses.

Please check digest No 148

On November 29, 2012 International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Georgia) organized a closed-door meeting with the members, where was discussed the current stage of business environment. The meeting was also attended by International Investors Association. The meeting was opened by the chairman of the Chamber Fady Asly and spoke about the cooperation ways towards the government. He also informed the members about the establishment of Advisory Council. The businessmen expressed their views about the ongoing political issues and were able to discuss the problems that impede the business and the improvement of investment environment in the country. The discussion was also focused on the most important issues: real estate, construction, legislative changes, especially labor code and competition law. Fady Asly will meet with Irakli Kovzanadze, with whom he discuss the problematic issues related to the business.

On 28^th of November ICC Georgia HR and Training commission held a meeting regarding new Labor Code, on which International Investors Association also attended.  Chairman of the Commission Mr. Yuri Dolidze lead the meeting and presented New Labour Code Draft as well as Georgian Parliament’s first comments on the Code. Mr. Dolidze stated that ICC Georgia can coordinate its future activities with certain Legislation makers and urged commission to get actively involved in the issue. It became obvious that the Legislation are copied from an EU model and are being implemented with very few adjustments. As a result many articles contain poor and misinterpreted terms and wording. Moreover, new Code might create serious problems for the employers all over Georgian and further destabilize the business. The commission agreed on two major plans of actions:

1. Consult with Tamar Kovziridze and urge the parliament to postpone any further Lobbing of the law.

2. Meeting the Social Affairs and Euro Integration committees in order to better understand thought process behind new regulations and present ICC Georgia's positions.

Please check digest No 147

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On November 14, 2012 in Batumi Sheraton Hotel was held the meeting among the Government of Georgia and the representatives of local large and medium businesses, as well as the foreign investors working in the region. International Investors Association of Georgia and its members also attended the conference.  The chairman of Ajara A.R Government Mr. Archil Khabadze, the Minister of Finance of Georgia Mr. Nodar Khaduri and the Minister of Ajara Finance and Economy Mr. Giorgi Tavartkiladze delivered welcoming speech. The investors were introduced economic policy of the new government, top priority of which is business integrity and its development to create the most comfortable conditions in the country. According to the Government representatives need to be restore a fair and competitive business-environment once and for all-where will be the Common Rule of the game and artificial monopolies will no longer exist. The discussion was as well as focused on simplification and the improvement of Georgian legislation. The businessmen were asked to be fair taxpayers and the government will be always committed to the business community. ,,I think that it was a timely and productive meeting as businessmen are the people who make up new jobs and wealth in the country. They also have problems with tax laws and administration as well as problems related to the fines. Decisions taken by the government will never be spontaneous.” – Nodar Khaduri said. „ We want to create a competitive environment, select the best projects and approve them. I also declare that none of the projects will be suspended” – said Archil Khabadze. The meeting was held in question-answer format. During the discussion several problematic issues were raised. The most problematic was the tax code. According to the businessmen Revenue Service and the entrepreneurs interpret the Code in different ways. The Minister of Finance of Georgia said that the activities to regulate the tax legislation are underway. It should be noted that at the meeting majority of foreign investors were Turkish businessmen. As it is known, the information about restriction of the activities of the Turkish investors operating in Georgia was reported. The businesspersons were interested in the mentioned issue. The government said that it is false and Republic of Turkey is and will be the country’s major economic partner. During the meeting, the issue of arrested entrepreneurs’ amnesty was conversed too. The Minister of Finance of Georgia promised to review all the concrete issues and asked the interested people to submit the official letter to the appropriate bodies. Gambling business-one of the actual issues was as well as discussed at the meeting. The businessmen requested to be informed in the closing casinos in Batumi, because they plan to add investment in the field in future. The Government representatives clarified that the study is underway and the decision related to the issue will be made after discussion, review and analysis. The Government is ready to ensure the freedom of the business in Georgia and defend its rights. The chairman of Ajara A.R Government promised to organize similar meetings in future.

On November 14, 2012 the meeting was held between the representatives of International Investors Association, Ajara Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Trabzon Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The presentation about the introduction of Ajara investment environment was held for the guests. The conversation between the sides was especially focused on furniture production field. The Turkish businessmen got interested in the local furniture production.

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