Giorgi Chitadze
Deputy Director General, Georgian Accreditation Center

IAF Chair Mr. Emanuele Riva, with Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle (DAkkS) CEO Mr. Stephan Finke, L’Ente Italiano di Accreditamento (ACCREDIA) General Director Mr. Filippo Trifiletti, the invited expert Dr. Thomas Facklam, and top management of the Georgian Accreditation Center (GAC-Georgia) participated in a seminar in Georgia for the judges of administrative proceedings.

An European Union (EU)-Georgia Association Agreement signed in 2014 and establishment of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area underlined Georgia’s commitment to align its legislation with respective EU law(s), regulations and directives, including EU Regulations 765/2008 and 768/2008.

In parallel with the development of the accreditation system in Georgia according to EU Regulation 765/2008, GAC has already dealt with a number of court proceedings regarding accreditation and the principles of accreditation.  Also, since transposition of the relevant EU legislation will continue, more cases are expected in the future. Based on GAC’s experience to date and lessons learned, it was determined that judges involved in the administrative proceedings required additional information about accreditation, particularly the EU system and practices. It is also worth noting that a number of Georgian court decisions/judgments had been issued that are not fully in line with the requirements and the principles derived from EU Regulation 765/2008.

In order to respond to these challenges, a seminar to raise the awareness of judges about the European accreditation system was organized in Georgia. The seminar was held on 01-03 April 2022 in the framework of the EU-funded twinning project, in cooperation with the Facility for the Implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement in Georgia – II and GAC.

Seminar participants included Georgian judges and representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, GAC and the High School of Justice.

The seminar included an introduction to accreditation systems existing in the EU and globally, as well as the general principles of the Georgian accreditation rules and procedures, EU legal framework on accreditation and relevant case studies prepared by DAkkS and ACCREDIA.

Speakers underlined the importance of such events in order to facilitate the proper enforcement of accreditation body decisions.