This article is about a highly technical matter. To avoid losing all our readers in the very beginning, let us start with a famous doctrine by Montesquieu: Les lois inutiles affaiblissent les lois nécessaires. This principle, literally meaning “useless laws weaken the necessary laws”, should always be kept in mind by lawmakers and politicians. If a regulation is not beneficial, then it is almost surely beneficial to get rid of the regulation. Some great Georgians endorsed this principle, like Kakha Bendukidze, who is widely praised for having erased many unnecessary rules from Georgia’s legal codes.

We continue to track the success of our graduates and would like to congratulate Ivane Pirveli from ISET class 2011 on his latest achievement. Currently serving as Deputy Head of the Gas Department at the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC), Ivane had been recently offered a prestigious position of a Seconded National Expert on Georgian energy law with the Austria-based Energy Community Secretariat.

Georgia’s Insolvency law of 2007 is primarily oriented towards a rapid liquidation of insolvent corporate entities and private entrepreneurs’ businesses with subsequent distribution of remaining assets amongst the creditors. The number of insolvency cases dealt with by the local courts of Tbilisi and Kutaisi is fairly limited most probably due to insufficient assets in the insolvent entities to cover the costs of the insolvency procedure.

With the New Year festivities finally behind us, ISET’s Khachapuri Index started on its seasonal downhill trajectory. In January, the Index slid 4.3% m/m, reaching 3.61 GEL per one standard portion of the Imeretian khachapuri. At the same time, it is some 6% higher y/y (compared to January 2015).

On January 26th, ISET hosted a discussion on urban mobility in Tbilisi. The event was co-organized with Iare Pekhit, a non-profit organization that lobbies, advocates, and organizes for the rights of pedestrians. Iare Pekhit is creating space for discussion between urban activists, lawyers, and decision-makers on our city's pedestrian issues to drive the change desperately needed.