Georgian Retailers Association to Protect Rights of Small & Medium Businesses

The first Retailers Association was founded in Georgia, the main purpose of which is to discuss and solve the problems and challenges existing in the business sector.

The presentation of the newly established non-governmental entity was held on November 6. The ceremony was attended and positively appraised by more than 250 guests, including shops, trade Reps and others. President of Ukraine Retailers Association, Yuri Bondarev, delivered a speech about the Associations’ success story in Ukraine.

Within the framework of the presentation meeting, Coca Cola President Temur Chkonia made a supportive speech calling for GRA membership.

The GRA Team also made a presentation on GRA aims, retailers’ problems, deliverables and services.

140 shops became members of the Association during the GRA presentation meeting and the event was widely covered by the local media due to its importance.

The Georgian Retailers Association is oriented on protecting the rights of retailers operating throughout the country. The Association, a non-profit legal entity, was established on October 29, 2018 with the main aim to protect the rights of small shops operating in Georgia, to provide them with information about legislation and to elaborate comprehensive mechanisms for entrepreneurial activities.

The Association is innovative, and the only one of its kind in Georgia and the region that protects the interests of retailers and effectively informs them about their rights.

The Association offers members a Hotline, legal advice and interactive meetings and trainings.

Additionally, the Association provides effective advocacy while introducing new regulations, and performs the role of mediator between retailers and the government.

Nowadays, there are many problems in the Georgian economic sector related to tightening the regulations, such as the so-called “regulations of May 1 and September 1”, tightened regulations and high fines, technical regulations of plastic bags, new draft law on labor safety, new draft law on protecting the customers’ rights, and communication with the Government (Revenue Service).

Moreover, there are potential problems seen in licensing the stores to the expected requirements with regards total size of the retail area, number of employees, dressing and training of the employees, introducing a special system for sectioning, safety and sanitary requirements, regulations related to using alcohol, etc.

The Georgian Retailers Association provides effective solutions for all the above-mentioned problems through its Advisory Board, establishing the proper relationships with the government, relationships with media representatives, and expressing the various opinions peacefully.

The membership fee of the Georgian Retailers Association is 100 GEL per year. Those who want to become a member of the Association will not have to pay the fee until December 1, 2019.

According to the founders of the Asssociation, Beqa Midelauri, Elene Zautashvili, Tatia Nanobashvili and Levan Suramelashvili, their main aim was to help the representatives of the business sector to overcome the current challenges they have to face and timely provide them with all the necessary information about the changes in regulations. some representatives of the small business are not aware of such changes, later resulting in their having to pay high fines and suffer financial loss. To avoid these problems, the Association is ready to assist the representatives of the Georgian business sector on their way to success and development.

“The new regulations on the use of tobacco, or on the use of plastic bags, were introduced very quickly and unexpectedly, and it made some representatives of small and medium business sector confused. To avoid such cases in the future, our Association will inform them about the regulations and help them to understand how to behave within the new rules. Moreover, we will provide effective advocacy and consultations for them, we will hold interactive meetings and trainings and we will do our best to eliminate their current problems,” noted the founders of the Georgian Retailers Association.

The organization started functioning with great motivation, as protecting the rights of retailers operating throughout the country and informing them about their rights is essential for the future development of Georgia’s economy.

“The representatives of the business sector strongly support our initiative and it is easily understandable why. The shops’ effective operating is directly connected with their future success and financial profit. If the shops close, of course, their revenues will be decreased. So, it is in their interest to support us,” they say.

The Association is mainly oriented on small shops, as, in comparison with huge retailers, they do not have enough financial resources to employ professional lawyers and use their services to protect themselves. Accordingly, at the presentation meeting of the Association, the representatives of about 300 small shops were given informational brochures and survey forms to find out their main problems and needs.

As the founders of the Association note, they are planning to hold meetings with the representatives of small business not only in Tbilisi, but in the regions of Georgia as well. The distributor companies also help them with all the necessary procedures to arrange meetings with interested companies.

“Many businessman, such as Coca Cola Director Temur Chkonia, actively collaborate with us and they tell us that we can visit the regions of Georgia any time and hold informational meetings with the representatives of the local business sector in their offices, because they are fully aware of the financial loss small businesses might have to face if they are not up-to-date with the latest regulations and legislative changes,” the representatives of the Association elaborated.

By Ana Dumbadze