TBILISI, December 16 – Georgia’s parliament has voted to extend the operation of a duty free shop located outside the country’s border zone, keeping it open until January 1, 2028.
Non-border duty free outlets were supposed to phased out on January 1, 2026, but lawmakers approved the extension as part of amendments to the Customs Code.
Duty free shops of this type previously operated in both Tbilisi and the Black Sea city of Batumi. At present, only the Tbilisi outlet remains open. The extension allows the shop, located on Chavchavadze Avenue, to continue selling goods to foreign diplomatic missions, equivalent international representations and their family members living with them.
A duty free shop in the middle of cities with a large diplomatic corps is not unique internationally, but somewhat unusual for a city the size of Tbilisi with its modest number of embassies.
The arrangement has been on the way out for some years; first, with a phase out date of September 1, 2019, but a new customs code that took effect on that date set January 1, 2022 as the cutoff, but that deadline was later pushed back.
A renewed attempt to shut down the practice was made in December 2021, when the government submitted changes to the customs and tax codes that extended the operation of duty free outlets located outside border zones until January 1, 2023. But that deadline was also pushed back.
