In 2003, an effort by the Roman Catholic Church to negotiate its own concordat with Georgia failed after the government yielded to pressure from the GOC leadership and public demonstrations said to have been organized by the GOC. In July 2011, the Georgian parliament enacted legislation allowing religious organizations to register as "legal entities of public law", a status closer to that held by the GOC; the leadership of the GOC criticized this proposed law and made an unsuccessful effort to influence the parliament not to adopt it, predicting that "the law will cause negative consequences soon, and the state will be responsible for it". Prior to this 2011 change, religious groups other than the GOC had only been allowed to register as "noncommercial legal entities of private law" - a status (similar to that of a charitable foundation or an NGO) which some churches considered unacceptable and refused to apply for. Public debate over the new law included concerns that the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) would use the new, improved status to renew challenges over the ownership of numerous churches claimed by both the GOC and the AAC.
In 2003, an effort by the Roman Catholic Church to negotiate its own concordat with Georgia failed after the government yielded to pressure from the GOC leadership and public demonstrations said to have been organized by the GOC. In July 2011, the Georgian parliament enacted legislation allowing religious organizations to register as "legal entities of public law", a status closer to that held by the GOC; the leadership of the GOC criticized this proposed law and made an unsuccessful effort to influence the parliament not to adopt it, predicting that "the law will cause negative consequences soon, and the state will be responsible for it" Prior to this 2011 change, religious groups other than the GOC had only been allowed to register as "noncommercial legal entities of private law" - a status (similar to that of a charitable foundation or an NGO) which some churches considered unacceptable and refused to apply for. Public debate over the new law included concerns that the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) would use the new, improved status to renew challenges over the ownership of numerous churches claimed by both the GOC and the AAC.