Start with duty, record and medical causation
Improper disclosure may engage privacy, professional, civil or criminal rules depending on data, authority, intent and consequence.
Which data left the permitted context, who accessed it, what lawful basis or consent existed and where was it sent?
Independent expertise should identify the applicable specialty standard and limitations; it should not be asked to declare criminal guilt.
The unaltered clinical record matters first
Access and export logs, consent and privacy notices, recipients, emails or messaging data, device records and incident response.
Clinical chronology
Reconstruct condition, decisions, interventions and response.
Individual duty
Distinguish practitioner, clinic, agency and executive roles.
Causation
Test competing medical explanations and legally assessed harm.
Articles that may enter the qualification
These provisions are orientation points, not a conclusion. An investigation may start under one article and later be narrowed, expanded or reclassified as facts, expert results, article parts, aggravating circumstances and procedural decisions develop.
Disclosure of information on private life or personal data
Covers specified unlawful obtaining, storage, use or disclosure that satisfies the article's consequence and circumstance requirements; privacy concern alone does not settle criminal liability.
Read full Article 157 text on this pageDisclosure of secrets of personal life
May be relevant where a secret of personal life is unlawfully obtained, stored, used or disclosed; the nature of the information, conduct, medium, role and intent require proof.
Read full Article 157¹ text on this pageRead the relevant provisions before the external source
The operative English text below is reproduced from the official consolidated Criminal Code of Georgia, publication 296, accessed 9 August 2026. Formatting has been normalised for on-screen reading; the current Georgian-language consolidated text controls if wording or timing differs.
Article 157Disclosure of information on private life or of personal data+
1. Unlawful obtaining, storage, use, dissemination of or otherwise making available information on private life or personal data, which has resulted in considerable damage, –
shall be punished by a fine or corrective labour for up to two years, or by imprisonment for up to three years.
2. Unlawful use and/or dissemination of information on private life or of personal data through a piece of work disseminated in a certain way, through internet, including social network, mass media or other public appearance, which has resulted in considerable damage, –
shall be punished by a fine or corrective labour for up to two years, or by imprisonment for up to four years.
3. The act provided for in paragraph 1 or 2 of this article committed:
a) for mercenary purposes;
b) repeatedly, –
shall be punished by a fine or imprisonment for a term of up to five years.
4. The act under paragraphs 1, 2 or 3 of this article committed by a person, who, due to his/her official position, professional activities or other circumstances, was obliged to keep this information or data confidential, or who committed the above act using his/her official position, –
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of four to seven years, with or without deprivation of the right to hold an office or to carry out activities for up to three years.
Note:
1. A person shall not incur criminal liability for a crime (obtaining, storage) under paragraph 1 of this article if he/she has submitted the obtained/stored information specified in paragraph 1 of this article to investigative authorities and communicated information on any other committed/anticipated criminal act in this manner.
2. For committing an act under this article, a legal person shall be punished by a fine, with deprivation of the right to carry out activities, or by liquidation and a fine.
Open Article 157 in the official consolidated Criminal Code↗︎Article 157¹Disclosure of secrets of personal life+
1. Unlawful obtaining, storage, use, dissemination of or otherwise making available secrets of personal life, –
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of four to seven years.
2. Unlawful use and/or dissemination of secrets of personal life through a piece of work disseminated in a certain way, through internet, including social network, mass media or other public appearance, –
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years.
3. The act provided for in paragraph 1 or 2 of this article committed:
a) for mercenary purposes;
b) repeatedly, –
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of six to nine years.
4. The act under paragraphs 1, 2 or 3 of this article committed by a person, who, due to his/her official position, professional activities or other circumstances, was obliged to keep this secret confidential, or who committed the above act using his/her official position, –
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of seven to ten years.
Note:
1. A person shall not incur criminal liability for a crime (obtaining, storage) under paragraph 1 of this article if he/she has submitted the obtained/stored information specified in paragraph 1 of this article to investigative authorities and communicated information on any other committed/anticipated criminal act in this manner.
2. For committing an act under this article, a legal person shall be punished by deprivation of the right to carry out activities, or by liquidation and a fine.
Open Article 157¹ in the official consolidated Criminal Code↗︎How counsel turns the issue into a case plan
For patient confidentiality and data disclosure, counsel can identify the operative procedure and decision-maker, test the prosecution theory against each legal element, obtain lawful defence material, frame expert or disclosure requests, preserve objections and prepare the next motion, hearing or cross-border step. Advice must be based on the actual record rather than the page title alone.
Stop further disclosure, preserve logs and separate necessary notification from speculative accusation.
Questions clients ask about patient confidentiality and data disclosure
Does Article 157 — Disclosure of information on private life or personal data — automatically apply to Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure?+
For Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure, Article 157, Article 157¹ may provide a starting point, but a page title is not a legal qualification. Investigators and prosecutors must match proved facts to every element, part and aggravating circumstance. The qualification may be narrowed, expanded or changed after expert results, new evidence, a defence motion, prosecutorial review or a court decision. Covers specified unlawful obtaining, storage, use or disclosure that satisfies the article's consequence and circumstance requirements; privacy concern alone does not settle criminal liability.
Which factual boundary is decisive in a Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure case?+
In a Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure case, the evidence must distinguish a criminal act from an adverse outcome, clinical judgment, regulatory breach or contractual dispute. That boundary is tested through the person's individual conduct, knowledge or intent, the legally classified consequence and every circumstance relied upon to move the allegation into a different article or aggravated part.
What evidence can prove—or undermine—the allegation of Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure?+
The focused record for Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure is not the same as for every offence. Priority material includes the complete unaltered clinical record, consent, audit trails, samples, protocols, payments and independent expertise. The defence should test provenance, completeness, authorship, lawful collection, chain of custody and whether each item proves the disputed element rather than merely repeating the accusation.
Can the article or charge for Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure change after the investigation starts?+
Yes. For Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure, Article 157, Article 157¹ may be a starting map, but expert results, quantity or value, injury classification, individual role, attempt or participation, a defence application, prosecutorial review or a court decision may support a different article, part or legal outcome.
What should be preserved immediately in a Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure matter?+
In a Patient Confidentiality and Data Disclosure matter, preserve the original chronology, procedural records and the topic-specific material before routine loss or alteration. Early advice is important because records, samples and device logs need preservation before positions or systems change; preservation must be lawful and must not involve hiding, changing or coordinating evidence.
Primary sources for this guide
Legislation can change and official English translations may lag the Georgian text. Check the current consolidated version and obtain advice before relying on a deadline, offence classification or remedy.
Official consolidated Criminal Code — current text & PDF↗︎Law on Health Care↗︎Law on Patient Rights↗︎