The problem of air pollution is becoming more and more important as it affects the health of the population. According to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Georgia, the transport sector is among the three main sources of air pollution in the country. In this context, there were high expectations with regard to the introduction of technical inspection of all types of vehicles from December 31, 2017. According to the amendments adopted by the Parliament of Georgia and the new regulations approved by the Government of Georgia, the mentioned issue was postponed for several years, which does not serve to solve the problem of air pollution and care for people’s health.

The part saying that technical inspection of all types of vehicles was to be launched on December 31, 2017, has been removed from the Law on Traffic. Despite the fact that the Parliament of Georgia has not transferred the authority to define the mentioned date to the Government of Georgia, the latter approved new regulations on December 1, 2017, and defined new date, which is problematic. It should be noted that introduction of technical inspection has been postponed for the fourth time in the last 5 years. In particular, according to the regulations approved by the Government, 1 January 2020 was defined as the date when all types of vehicles (except for few exceptions) must have passed technical inspection.[1] However, it is noteworthy that in the context of air pollution, some important parameters will not be taken into account during the inspections carried out in this period, which implies postponement of the issue for a longer period of time.[2] For example, during the first inspection carried out before January 1, 2020, the requirement of the technical directives, which stipulates that: "There shall be no leakage from the damaged or connective parts of the exhaust gas system, while exhaust gas of vehicles equipped with catalytic converter shall not be emitted in the atmosphere without using the catalytic converters"[3], will not be in force. Maximum permissible amount of carbon dioxide (CO) in exhaust gas will be increased in the same period, etc[4]. Accordingly, fulfillment of the requirements that are closely connected to air pollution will not be checked during the technical inspections conducted before 2020. This means that technical inspection in the next few years will not significantly reduce air pollution.

The Public Defender of Georgia expressed negative opinion with regard to the abovementioned issues during the discussion of the draft law at the committee meeting and supported timely introduction of technical inspection, which would have positive impact on the health of the population and air pollution.