On October 27, 2015, the Parliament of Georgia approved a new Public Service Law, which is part of the public service reform that was approved by the Government of Georgia through its November 19, 2014 Decision #627. [1] The public service reform, for its part, is part of the global objective to transform the public service service. This reform is important for the development of democratic governance and institutionalization in Georgia. Some steps have already been taken for achieving this goal; however, full success of the reform requires mobilization of public interest and increase of public participation.

Public service reform is reflected in the Public Service Reform Guidebook - 2020, which was approved by the Government of Georgia on August 19, 2015. It includes 10 areas:

-Definition of Public Service

-Scope of Public Service

-Centralized System of Public Service Management, Coordination and Monitoring

-Classification System

-Remuneration System

-Acceptance to Public Service

-Management of Public Servants

-Rights and Obligations of Public Servants

-Training and Raising of Qualification

-Equal Opportunities for Men and Women

Some aspects of the reform are regulated by the Public Service Law, which will enter force on January 1, 2017. However, a large number of issues are regulated by normative acts of the government, which has been negatively assessed by IDFI and other civil society organizations.[2] Regulating important matters through government decrees undermines the sustainability of the system and gives the government the opportunity to easily make changes to important issues, such as performance evaluation or certification of public servants, regulations on mobility and on holding competitions, classification and ranking of public servants and so forth. These areas are only generally defined in the new law.

Article 126 of the new Public Service Law provides a list of legal acts that the government must adopt by June 1, 2017, as well as a list of legal acts that the government was supposed to submit to the Parliament by September 1, 2016: [3]

- Government Resolution on Approving the Rules for Determining the Professional Development Needs of Public Servants, Standard and Rules for Professional Development.

- Government Resolution on Approving the Rules for Naming Positions and Determining the Hierarchical Position of Public    Servants.

- Draft law on Remuneration in Public Institutions.

- Draft law on Legal Entities of Public Law (LEPL) (the government must also categorize existing legal LEPLs).

The Government of Georgia must adopt the following by-laws by December 31, 2016:

-Government Resolution on Conducting Competition in Public Service.

-Government Resolution on the Rules and Conditions for Evaluating Public Servants.

-Government Resolution on the Rules and Conditions for Using Vacation Days by Public Servants for Professional Development.

-Government Resolution on the Rules and Conditions for Work Visit by Public Officials, Travel Expenses and Compensation Amounts.

- Government Resolution on the Rules for Working Part-time, Night shifts, on Holidays and in Conditions with Health Risks in the Public Service.

- Government Resolution on Approving Standard Forms of Administrative Agreements.

- Government Resolution on the Rules for Mobility of Public Servants.

- Government Resolution on the Rules for Classification of Public Servants.

- Government Resolution on Determining Special Requirements for Each Hierarchical Position of Public Servants.

- Government Resolution on Monetary Incentives for Public Servants.

The Government of Georgia has yet to adopt and submit to the Parliament legal acts prescribed by Article 126 of the new Public Service Law.  While for most legal acts the government has time until December 31, the deadline has already passed for 4 of them, including 2 draft laws.

On July 21, 2016, the Civil Service Bureau organized public discussion on some of the above normative acts, where civil society representatives had the opportunity to voice their remarks and suggestions. Discussions were held on the following draft resolutions:

-         Draft Resolution on Public Servant Certification.

-         Draft Resolution on Conducting Competition in Public Service.

-         Draft Resolution on the Rules for Mobility of Public Servants.

-         Draft Resolution on Monetary Incentives for Public Servants.

-         Draft Resolution on Approving the Rules for Naming Positions and Determining the Hierarchical Position of Public Servants.

-         Draft Resolution on Determining Special Requirements for Each Hierarchical Position of Public Servants.

-         Draft Resolution on the Rules and Conditions for Evaluating Public Servants.

-         Draft Resolution on the Rules for Classification of Public Servants.

In case of all other normative acts were not included in public discussions, IDFI urges the Government of Georgia to provide the society with ample time for feedback.

Some of the legal acts to be adopted until December 31 are especially important. For example, the government was supposed to submit to the Parliament the draft law on Remuneration in the Public Service by September 1, 2016. This law would fundamentally change the remuneration system in the public service. The government also failed to submit the draft law on Legal Entities of Public Law, which would determine the scope of public service and the functions of LEPLs

IDFI calls on the Government of Georgia to hold public hearings on draft laws included in the public service reform and to approve and submit the resulting documents to the Parliament in due time.

[1] http://csb.gov.ge/uploads/matsne-2582972.pdf

[2] https://idfi.ge/ge/civil-service-reform-expectations-and-reality

[3] Public Service Law, Article 126 https://matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/3031098