On June 27, 2014, Georgia signed the EU-Georgia Association Agreement (AA), and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) as a part of it; and committed to gradually approximate national legislative system to the EU’s legislation. The agreement, among other, addresses the topics related to sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, state procurement, customs regulation, trade with services, etc. It is meant strengthen the Georgia-EU cooperation in food safety issues, boost domestic export in the EU, provide domestic consumers with high quality food products, protect animal and plant health, and guarantee full transparency of trade-related sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

Currently, Georgia moves in line with the pre-declared timeline in terms of introduction and adoption new or amended regulations in food safety, but due to the underdeveloped technical base and limited capacity of the National Food Agency (NFA), the fulfillment of the law proves to be problematic. The COVID-19 pandemic added further complexity to the law enforcement and harmed the private sector, who lacks necessary financial resources for modernization of production processes to keep up with the legal reforms.

This policy document will describe Georgia’s approximation process on food safety: what are the country’s obligations, what is already done, and what are the challenges Georgia faces, especially in the light of COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, we will review COVID-19’s effect on current and future approximation processes and COVID-19 implication on FBOs capacity and ability to comply with the regulations. Finally, will be propose a set of recommendations for different stakeholders (FBOs, local municipalities, central government, CSOs) along the food production chain on how to better address COVID-19 challenges and ensure effective implementation of the SPS policy. Policy document is a composition of insights from a desk research and interviews with key stakeholders.