The abstract of the judgment (The judgment is available only in Georgian). Abstracts published by the Constitutional Court of Georgia summarise the facts of the case and key legal considerations of the judgment.

Abstract

On 21 April, 2017, the Constitutional Court of Georgia did not uphold the constitutional complaint (registration №826) of the citizen of Georgia, Khatuna Pkhaladze. The complainant considered unconstitutional that rule of the Law of Georgia on Tobacco Control, which prohibited sale of tobacco products at the trading points, which were located on the adjacent territories, within 50 meters of radius from institutions of general education/ schools. The complainant asserted that the rule contradicted the right to free entrepreneurship under Article 30(2) of the Constitution of Georgia.

The Constitutional Court declared, that within the present dispute, the state should be granted wide discretion in view of the sphere of regulation of the disputed rule and specificity of the group of people, to be protected by it. The Court explained, that consumption of tobacco products has negative effect on human health. Moreover, the beneficiaries of services of institutions of general education/schools are minors. There is a heightened interest of restriction of access to tobacco products and their popularization among minors.

The Court stated, that the area within 50 meters radius from the general educational institutions/schools is a space, where large number of minors regularly gathers/moves. Presence of any trading point of tobacco products within this radius will gain it even heightened visibility for minors. In view of this, the Constitutional Court decided, that the disputed rule served a valuable legitimate aim and constituted a proportional means to achieve it. Therefore, the constitutional complaint was not upheld.

The dissenting opinion of the Judges of the Constitutional Court – Maia Kopaleishvili and Giorgi Kverenchkhiladze is appended to the Judgement.