Disinformation: The entry on the epidemic and the pandemic in the Law of Public Health was made after 2 April 2019.
Verdict: LIE
On 7 April 2021, Lasha Modebadze, a Facebook user, made a publication which includes a so-called screenshot of an amendment made to the Law of Georgia on Public Health on 2 April 2019 which is signed by Salome Zurabishvili.
The author’s comment on the photo is as follows: “Take a look at the law on health that Salome Zurabishvili amended in April 2019. And the theatrical show of the pandemic began by the end of 2019.”
The Law of Georgia on Public Health aims to encourage public health and a healthy lifestyle, provide for a healthy environment, facilitate the reproductive health of families and prevent the spread of both contagious and non-contagious diseases. Article 12 of the law is about the management of an emergency response amid epidemics and pandemics which are the most dangerous for public health.
The amendment made to the law on 2 April 2019 was introduced in the aforementioned article. In particular, point one of article 12 of the pre-amended version of the law stated: “An epidemic and a pandemic are extremely dangerous for public health and fall into the category of emergency situations and their management is coordinated on the basis of recommendations and proposals of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as well as the Law of Georgia on Public Safety and the National Public Safety Plan approved by the Government of Georgia.” After amending the law, point one of article 12 was transformed as follows: “An epidemic and a pandemic are extremely dangerous for public health and fall into the category of emergency situations and their management is carried out in line with the Law of Georgia on Public Safety.”
To compare the different versions of the law, point one of article 12 included the entry that an epidemic and a pandemic fall into the category of emergency situations before the amendments were made on 2 April 2019. Therefore, the claim in Lasha Modebadze’s publication that the entry on the epidemic and the pandemic was inserted into the law after amending it on 2 April 2019 is a lie.
Of note is that the amendments made on 2 April 2019 were mostly of a technical nature and aimed to make the legislation fit with the new constitutional order. On 13 December 2018, the Government of Georgia submitted a package of draft laws to the Parliament of Georgia intended to create a legislative framework for establishing the National Security Council. Amendments to the Law of Georgia on Public Health were part of these draft laws. According to the explanatory note of the draft law, amending the law became necessary after changing the Law of Georgia on Planning and the Rule of Coordination of the National Security Policy and the Law of Georgia on Public Safety. Point one of article 12 of the Law of Georgia on Public Health envisioned a different management for an emergency caused by an epidemic and a pandemic which are extremely dangerous for public health and this contradicted the regulations provided by the Law of Georgia on Public Safety. The amendment made to the Law of Georgia on Public Health was intended to address this flaw. According to the amendment which was adopted, point one of article 12 is now technically sound. In particular, emergency response management vis-à-vis an epidemic and a pandemic which are extremely dangerous for public health is carried out in line with the Law of Georgia on Public Safety.
Given the aforementioned circumstances, the claim in Lasha Modebadze’s Facebook publication that the entry of the epidemic and the pandemic in the Law of Georgia on Public Health was made on 2 April 2019 is a LIE. As mentioned earlier, the entry about the epidemic and the pandemic has been included in the Law of Georgia on Public Health since its adoption on 27 June 2007. In addition, of note is that the amendment made on 2 April 2019 was of a technical nature and aimed to make the legislative framework congruent with the new constitutional model.
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