Eurocodes in Georgia: status and how to use them for facade design
The Eurocodes are not mandatory in Georgia, but the Code requires the Government to take them into account. This is what that means for a facade calculation and how to build the justification.
The short answer for a designer: the Eurocodes are not mandatory in Georgia, and the Code of Georgia (No. 3213 of 20 July 2018) asks the Government only to take them into account. In practice they are the reference most engineers use for aluminium and for loads that Georgian regulations do not cover. This article sets out the legal position and a method for justifying a design in the project.
What the law says
Article 78 of the Code states that the basic requirements for buildings are set by the Code, technical regulations and standards, and that the Government takes the Eurocodes of CEN and other international norms into account when it prepares regulations. That is a rule for the lawmaker, not an instruction to the designer to apply EN standards.
No act makes the Eurocodes mandatory, and there are no national annexes to EN 1991. They may be used as recognised international practice (Article 78). The five technical regulations approved by Government of Georgia Resolution No. 71 of 15 January 2014 (concrete, foundations, seismic construction, external water and sewer networks, construction climatology) are of Soviet-era origin; the fire regulation (Resolution No. 41) follows the International Building Code.
Status
- A TAIEX workshop on the implementation of the Eurocodes was held in Tbilisi on 26-27 September 2011 with the Ministry of Economy, the Joint Research Centre and CEN/TC 250.
- The DCFTA implementation report for the third quarter of 2025 records a meeting with the industry in Tbilisi on 24 March 2025 on the Eurocodes.
- Registration of the Eurocodes as Georgian standards is not confirmed, and no dates of mandatory use are set.
Which source to use for which question
| Question | Georgian regulation | European reference used in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Wind pressure, snow | Construction climatology (Annex 5 to Resolution No. 71) | EN 1991-1-4, EN 1991-1-3 as a cross-check |
| Seismic action | Seismic regulation (Annex 3 to Resolution No. 71), MSK-64 | EN 1998-1 is not the Georgian method |
| Aluminium subframe | No national regulation found | EN 1999-1-1; EN 755 and EN 573 for profiles |
| Steel parts | No national regulation found | EN 1993 |
| Anchors in concrete | No national standard found; product documents under Resolution No. 476 | EN 1992-4, ETA of the anchor |
| Subframe system | No special regulation for ventilated facades | EAD 090062 (ETAG 034 is the earlier guideline) |
| Thermal bridges, U-value | Resolution No. 354 | EN ISO 6946, EN ISO 10211 |
| Fire | Resolution No. 41 (ASTM, NFPA) | EN 13501-1 is not the basis of Resolution No. 41 |
Wind and snow come from the Georgian climatology regulation, not from EN 1991: see climatology: wind and snow. Seismic action is taken from the Georgian regulation, see the seismic regulation.
How to justify the design in the project
- State the basis. In the calculation note list the Georgian regulations used for loads (climatology, seismic) and the European standards used for resistance of aluminium, steel and anchors.
- Keep the sources apart. Do not mix the characteristic wind value from the Georgian regulation with partial factors of a different system without saying how the combination is made. Write the load combination explicitly.
- Cite the product documents. Resistances of anchors and brackets come from the ETA or the DoP, see Resolution No. 476.
- Agree early. The use of EN 1999 or EN 1992-4 is a permitted international norm, not a stated requirement. Agree the approach with the reviewer before the submission for classes with mandatory review (Resolution No. 255).
- Record the edition. Give the edition and year of each EN standard.
Common mistakes
- Stating in the project that the Eurocodes are "mandatory in Georgia". They are not; they are an accepted international basis.
- Applying EN 1998-1 seismic parameters to a Georgian city instead of the intensity and coefficient A from the Georgian seismic regulation.
- Taking wind pressure from EN 1991-1-4 without a Georgian national annex, instead of the value in the climatology regulation.
- Quoting an anchor resistance that is not backed by an ETA or a DoP.
- Leaving the combination of Georgian and European partial factors unexplained.
Where this is applied in our calculations
The structural verification of a facade covers the dead load, wind action, the seismic action on non-structural elements, anchor resistance, bracket and rail capacity and cassette checks. The method is described in structural calculation. Our projects in Central Asia use EN 1999 for aluminium and EAD-based product documents for subframes and anchors.
Where to find the standards
The EN standards are paid documents; the JRC of the European Commission publishes explanatory material at eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu. EAD documents are published by EOTA at eota.eu; check the licence terms of each document. The list of adopted Georgian standards is kept by the National Agency of Standards and Metrology.
If you need a calculation basis agreed for a specific project, contact us.