Internal guidelines for Courts on the Rules of Disclosing Court Judgments have been prepared with the active involvement of the Council of Europe (CoE).

Further to the intensive exchange of opinions and discussions between the Supreme Court’s Working group and the CoE consultants, the High Council of Justice (HCOJ) took into account the vast majority of recommendations provided by CoE and adopted the internal guidelines on 12 September 2016. The guidelines will take effect from 1 January, 2017 and will become an obligatory rule for all the internal staff of the courts.

CoE expertise allowed HCOJ to carefully assess the right to a fair and open trial and the right to private life in the context of the right to freedom of expression. As a result, the document would guide the court staff and judges on how to disclose court judgments without violating the right to privacy of certain individuals.

This is a policy document for Courts which is expected to enhance the human rights protection in Georgia.

Support was provided in the framework of the European Union – Council of Europe joint project “Application of the European Convention on Human Rights and harmonisation of national legislation and judicial practice in Georgia in line with European standards” and project “Promoting freedom, professionalism and pluralism of the media”, both being implemented under the EU-CoE Programmatic Cooperation Framework.