The EU-Georgia Association Agreement was signed on 27 June 2014 and fully entered into force on 1 July 2016.
The institutional, general and final provisions of the EU Association Agreement with Georgia (Article 412) provides for the establishment of a Civil Society Platform, tasked with promoting regular meetings of representatives from the civil societies of both parties, "in order to keep them informed of, and gather input for, the implementation of this Agreement". Thus, the Platform complements the political bodies existing within the framework of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement. It allows civil society organisations from both sides to monitor the implementation of the Agreement by submitting its recommendations to the relevant authorities.
The membership of the Platform is stipulated in Article 412: "it shall consist of, representatives of civil society on the side of the EU, including EESC members, and representatives of civil society on the side of Georgia, including representatives of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum."
The EU-Georgia Civil Society Platform was established on 16 June 2016 and has members on both sides. On the EU side, it comprises EESC members and members from European civil society networks (BusinessEurope, European Services Forum, ETUC, Euro Coop, European Disability Forum and the EaP Civil Society Forum).
The Platform may make recommendations to the Association Council (ministerial level); furthermore, the Association Committee (senior civil servant level) and the Parliamentary Association Committee are obliged to organise regular contacts with its representatives to obtain their views on the attainment of the objectives of the Association Agreement (Article 413).