Georgia, Tbilisi / Trend corr N. Kirtskhalia / The Georgian Government has postponed its consideration of amendments in the Law on Licenses and Permits until the Autumn season due to talks with Azerbaijan. Under the changes, Georgia has withdrawn its permit for the transportation which exceeds the determined quotes. According to the Parliamentary Secretary of the Georgian Government, Giya Khuroshvili, the reason for the delay in consideration and adoption of the changes was caused by additional consultations between Georgia and Azerbaijan.
According to Khuroshvili, should an agreement be signed between the sides, the project will possibly be removed from the agenda.
In compliance with the changes, Georgia will withdraw its permits for countries which exceed the transit transportations quotes adopted in Georgia under an international agreement. For the time being, 1,500 transportations are active between the countries. However, the Georgian side does not clearly fix the norm and now there are only 120 of such transportations, though in fact their number exceeds the norm.
Azerbaijan has 1,497 quotes for Georgia and today Georgian transporters cannot implement additional transit transportations and have to use Azerbaijani transporters.
In accordance with the Georgian legislation, in case the quote is exceeded by Azerbaijan and other countries, Georgia will issue additional permits. Such norm is not active in other countries, including Azerbaijan, with respect to Georgia.
According to Khuroshvili, if Baku refuses to provide Georgian transporters with additional quotes, the Government will lift the permit for over-limit transportations and will hold a precise account of transportations by foreign companies.
The changes will be included into the Administrative Code. Therefore, if freight is transported in compliance with the quotes without a special permit, a transporter must pay 500 laris (Georgian national currency).