Declarations
Reservations

Articles: 6-10, 15, 16

Reservations:

  1. Georgia declares that a judge is authorized to deliver judgment in accordance with the conditions stated in Article 15 of the Convention.

  2. Georgia declares that the application for relief set out in Article 16 of the Convention shall not be upheld if it is filed after the expiration of a period of five years following the date on which the judgment was given.

  3. The Ministry of Justice shall be designated as the Central Authority, pursuant to the first Paragraph of Article 2 of the Convention.

  4. Georgia declares that the documents to be served on the territory of Georgia shall be written in the Georgian language or accompanied by a translation into the Georgian language duly certified according to the law of the requesting State.

  5. For the purposes of Article 7 of the Convention, the documents shall be prepared in the English language.

  6. Georgia declares that it shall object to direct service of judicial documents upon persons within its territory through foreign diplomatic or consular agents, unless the documents are to be served upon a national of the State from which the documents originate.

  7. Georgia declares that the documents to be served in accordance with Article 9 of the Convention are forwarded to the Ministry of Justice of Georgia for the purposes of service to the parties.

  8. Georgia objects the service of documents by the means defined under Sub-paragraphs (b) and (c) of Article 10 of the Convention.

  9. For the purposes of:
    a) Article 2 of the Convention the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall be designated as the Central Authority;
    b) Article 6 of the Convention the Courts of First Instance of Georgia are the authorities competent to complete the certificate;
    c) Article 9 of the Convention the Ministry of Justice of Georgia shall be designated as the authority competent to receive documents forwarded by consular channels.

Declarations:

In accordance with Sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of Article 2 of the Law of Georgia on the Occupied Territories, the occupied territories of Georgia are:

(a) the territories of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia;

(b) the Tskhinvali region (the territories of the former Autonomous Region of South Ossetia).

By Resolution No 1633 of 2008, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe confirmed the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders. In accordance with this Resolution, the Assembly condemns the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, Georgia and Abkhazia, Georgia as a violation of international law and the statutory principles of the Council of Europe. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe reaffirms the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and calls upon the Russian Federation to withdraw its recognition of the independence of the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, Georgia and Abkhazia, Georgia and to respect fully the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia, as well as the inviolability of its frontiers.

Furthermore, the United Nations (General Assembly Resolution 11785) General Assembly also recognized the right of return of the internally displaced persons, regardless of their ethnicity, to the occupied territories of Georgia.

In this regard, Georgia states that the obligations under the present Convention shall be applied and implemented with respect to the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia when the circumstances permit and Georgia restores effective control over those territories.

Documents or requests made or issued by the illegal authorities of the Russian Federation, or officials of these illegal authorities, deployed (operating) in the occupied territories of Georgia, or by the illegitimate authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia and of the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, Georgia, which are currently under the effective control of the Russian Federation, are null and void and have no legal effect regardless of whether they are presented directly or indirectly through the authorities of the Russian Federation.

The provisions of the Convention on the possibility of direct communication or relation shall not apply to the illegal organs of Abkhazia (Georgia) and the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia (Georgia), remaining under the effective control of the Russian Federation. The relevant communication procedures shall be determined by the Central Authority of Georgia in Tbilisi.“