About Communications Commission          

Regulatory authority of broadcasting and electronic communications field has launched its activities on the 1st of July, 2000. The Commission consists of five members elected for a six years term. Commission as well as the members of the Commission and the staff employees are independent while carrying out their duties and are subjected to the Law.

Executive as well as the legislative authority is involved in the formation process of the Commission. The President of Georgia issues a decree on the announcement of the competition on the vacant position of the member of the Commission. All the interested parties are able to participate in the competition. After the expiration of the deadline for submission of documentation at the announced competition, the President Administration publishes a full list of competitors. Following, with the agreement to the Government of Georgia the President will select three candidates for each vacancy, which is also published and simultaneously is submitted to the Prime Minister in order to get countersigning. After obtaining the countersigning the President of Georgia will present three candidates to the Parliament for the approval on each vacant position of the Commission. From these three candidates, one is elected by a majority of the Parliament, for the six-year term. Dismissal of the member of the Commission is the authority of the Parliament only.

The commission has the Chairman, which is elected by the Commission through the secret ballot by the majority for three years and for the one term only.

Since the 19th of May, 2017 the Chairman of the Commission is Kakhi Bekauri. Members of the Commission are the following: Vakhtang Abashidze, Natia Kukuladze, Ekaterine Imedadze and Ivane Makharadze. Commission consists of 13 structural units; the Commission has the  consumer interest public defender and it Service.

According to the regulations, the Commission is the Legal Entity of Public Law, the standing independent state agency. The Commission is accountable to the President, the Government, and the Parliament and submits its annual report to all three branches of the Government. The Commission is not subject to any state authority and is not financed from the state budget. The source of the revenue of the Commission is the regulation fee paid by the authorized and licensed persons in the electronic communications and broadcasting field which is the 0.75% of the total annual income of authorized and licensed persons in the electronic communications field and the 0.5% of the total annual income of authorized and licensed persons in the broadcasting field.

Precondition for the establishment of Communications Commission was the amendments to the Law of Georgia on "Post and Telecommunications" made on the 23rd of July, 1999. Creation of Communications Commission has set completely new organizational-legal and economic principles in the field of post and telecommunications. This law was invalidated since the adoption of the Law of Georgia on "Broadcasting" in 2004 and the Law of Georgia on "Electronic communications" in 2005. Under the current legislation the functions of the Government as a policy-setting body and the Commission as a regulatory body are clearly separated.

The main goals and tasks of the Commission are the issues, such as:

-     Unacceptability of the monopolistic practices in the field of electronic communications and broadcasting;

-    Establishment of transparent regulatory environment and promotion of competition;

-     Promotion of high-quality, diverse and innovative telecommunications services for consumers;

-     Introduction of modern technologies and the active cooperation with international organizations for these purposes;

-     Consumer rights protection.

It is the authority of the Commission to announce public competition in order to obtain TV and radio broadcasting license as well as to announce auction for the issuance of the license for the use of frequency resource. Also, it’s under commission to issue approvals on the use of numbering resource as well as the use of frequency resource. Authentication of the activities, licensing, licenses and permits in the electronic communications and broadcasting field, suspension and revocation of authorization to work in this area as well as the extension, postponement and cancellation of the licenses if the responsibility of the Commission. The Commission, at the same time monitors fulfillment of the terms of licenses by authorized persons and license holders.

Commission includes definition and allocation of the radio spectrum, certification of electronic communications and broadcasting facilities, standardization, metrology and other services.

The Commission regulates technical, legal and economic issues related to the interconnection of the electronic communications network operators, which aims to protect the interests of the customers and ensure service opportunities of any operator.

One of the main components development, management and regulation of electronic communications is the cooperation with international telecommunications systems and organizations. Currently, intensive working process is ongoing in order to implement the obligations undertaken with the “Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, on the one part, and Georgia, on the other part”. Over the past years, the Commission has been actively involved in consultation or the development projects which were organized at different times by the World Bank, USAID, EBRD, UNDP, CoE.

Since 2001, the Commission is the associate member of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Since 2007, according to the amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Institute, Georgia became a full member of ETSI. In February 2005 Georgia became 100th governmental member of the Governmental Advisory Committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN GAC). According to the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Communications Commission will represent the national interests at the Committee.

In order to implement the functions imposed according to the Law of Georgia on the "Electronic Communications” Communications Commission works closely with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

Since 2007, Georgia became a full member of European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT). Administration is represented by the Ministry of Economic Development, but the Commission, as the regulatory authority, Closely cooperates with CEPT.

One of the main principles of the activities of the Commission is the open and transparent communication with the society. Commission resolutions and decisions are available for public discussion.