A/HRC/4/33/Add.2 Page 56 visit penitentiary institutions without special authorization (the decree of the President, serving as a ground for the decree of the Minister of Justice, approving the organizational form of the Council, remains in force). 279. Article 93 of the Law of Georgia on Imprisonment provides for standing commissions under penitentiaries. But despite the fact that the Ministry of Justice approved the Statute of the Commissions (Decree of the President N 2190 dated 2 November 2005) and NGOs submitted candidates for its membership, not all commissions have been composed yet. Only three commissions operate at the moment (Zugdidi Prison No. 4, Batumi Prison No. 3 and Kutaisi Prison No. 2 and strict regime establishment commissions). The composition of three more commissions has been decided (Ksani colony and strict regime prison, Geguti No. 8 jail and the tuberculosis hospital). As the Statute does not contain any regulations concerning selection procedures and required qualification, it is possible that appointments of Commission members cause suspicion, because the Ministry of Justice will be able to select the candidates it considers to be loyal. Moreover, some members of prison monitoring commissions and members of the Presidential Monitoring Board have complained about problems accessing certain facilities at certain times. 280. The Government reiterated that there is a political consensus regarding the establishment of national preventive mechanisms as envisaged by OPCAT in accordance with the Paris Principles relating to the Status of the National Institutions. At the same, with respect to investigatory powers of the national institution, the Government stated that, according to the Paris Principles, national institutions do not have investigatory privileges. They are vested only with quasi-jurisdictional competencies within the limits prescribed by law as well as the right to examine petitions and submit recommendations/advice to the respective governmental bodies. The Georgian national institution has the authority to inquire and can render its observations public. 281. The standing commissions under penitentiaries constitute an internal monitoring system that serves as an alternative source of information for the Minister of Justice within strictly defined competencies, while the preventive national mechanisms under OPCAT have the role of independent and impartial national institutions. As regards the current mode of creation of the standing commissions and the criteria for the appointment of its members, Decree No. 2190 of the Ministry of Justice sets out the rules in this regard. According to the statutes of the commissions, established by the mentioned Decree, the members of the commissions are selected on the basis of their desire, possibility to work intensively, qualification and reputation. In addition, the candidate should reside within 30 kilometres from the penitentiary institution the commission in question should monitor. The members are approved by the Minster of Justice; however the mentioned criteria considerably limit the possibility to appoint members in an arbitrary manner. 282. As at January 2007, the following local prison monitoring commissions were operating within the penitentiary system of Georgia: Tbilisi No. 5 Penitentiary Institution; Rustavi No. 6 Penitentiary Institution; Rustavi No.1 Penitentiary Institution; Tbilisi No.5 Women and Juvenile Penitentiary Institution; Batumi No. 3 Penitentiary Institution; Zugdidi No. 4 Penitentiary Institution; Ksani No. 7 Penitentiary Institution; Geguti No. 8 Penitentiary Institution; Kutaisi No. 2 Penitentiary Institution; Ksani Tubercular Condemned Prison Hospital Institution; Prison Central Hospital. It should be highlighted that all the members of the mentioned commissions