Public Defender has addressed Mr. Akakaki Sikharulidze, the acting Chairman of National Communication Commission with a recommendation regarding lawfulness of the August 26, 2013 decision.

After examining the results of the competition announced on June 21, 2013, for obtaining license for private radio broadcasting, Public Defender regards the decision of the National Communication Commission void.

On July 25, 2013, the National Communication Commission held a preliminary meeting, where the application documents submitted to the commission by the companies registered for the completion were publicly opened. However, a break was announced right away and the application documents, before they had been publicized and uploaded to the web-site of the commission, were taken out the conference room for half an hour. Video footage dispersed by TV 9 also confirms the mentioned fact. The competition applications were made public after the break. According to the current legislation, the competition documents are opened at the preliminary meeting in attendance of the applicants seeking license and are open for public.

On August 26, 2013 the National Communication Commission declared LLC Energy Group as the winner of the competition for obtaining private general radio broadcasting license.

Georgian National Communication Commission published the substantiated decision on their official web-site on September 27, 2013, thus violating the term for publishing an individual administrative-legal act. In terms of programming, in case of equal ranking of license seekers, that participant of the competition will be declared as the winner which on the bases of a previously issued license had been broadcasting on the frequencies for that the completion is being held.

Considering the variety of programs and experience in the field of broadcasting, the Department for Regulation of Broadcasting expressed preference for the company Hereti in its report. However, the commission did not take into account the mentioned report and declared LLC Energy Group as the winner.

In addition, the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting states that a broadcasting license/authorization cannot be held by:

a) An administrative body;

b) Official of an administrative body, other public servant;

c) A legal entity interconnected with an administrative body;

d) Political party, official of a political party;

e) A legal entity registered in an offshore zone;

f) A legal entity that directly or indirectly owns shares in an entity registered at an offshore zone.

It is worth mentioning, that the Director of LLC Energy Group, Mr. Kakha Baindurashvili is a President of the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry – a corporation of public law, which means that he is an official of an administrative body. (However, the documents presented by LLC Energy Group did not say anything about the occupation of Mr. Baindurashvili at the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry).

As the examination of the case files revealed, the Georgian National Communication Commission has referenced neither the procedure for administrative proceedings prescribed by the general Administrative Code of Georgia, nor the requirements and criteria for declaring the winner of completion envisages by the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting.