I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5122 

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to require registration 

statements filed under such Act to be filed in a structured data format 

which enables the statements to be digitized for purposes of the publicly 

available electronic database maintained under such Act, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2019 

Mr. BUCK (for himself and Mr. KHANNA) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 

to require registration statements filed under such Act 

to be filed in a structured data format which enables 

the statements to be digitized for purposes of the publicly 

available electronic database maintained under such Act, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Agents Reg5 istration Modernization Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘FARM Act 

6 of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FORMAT FOR REGISTRATION STATEMENTS FILED 

2 UNDER FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION 

3 ACT OF 1938. 

4 (a) REQUIRING REGISTRATION STATEMENTS TO BE

5 IN STRUCTURED DATA FORMAT.—Section 2(g) of the 

6 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 

7 U.S.C. 612(g)) is amended by striking ‘‘in electronic 

8 form’’ and inserting ‘‘in an electronic, structured data for9 mat under which the statement or supplement shall be 

10 published in a publicly available, machine-processable dig11 ital format for purposes of the National Foreign Agents 

12 Database under section 6(d)’’. 

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall apply with respect to statements filed 

15 on or after the expiration of the 180-day period which be16 gins on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTRONIC DATABASE OF 

18 REGISTRATION STATEMENTS. 

19 (a) REQUIRING DATABASE TO BE SEARCHABLE AND

20 SORTABLE BY PUBLIC; DESIGNATION OF DATABASE AS

21 ‘‘NATIONAL FOREIGN AGENTS DATABASE’’.—Section 

22 6(d)(1) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, 

23 as amended (22 U.S.C. 616(d)(1)) is amended— 

24 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

25 by striking ‘‘to the extent technically practicable,’’; 


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1 (2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

2 by striking ‘‘an electronic database’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘an electronic database to be known as the ‘National 

4 Foreign Agents Database’ ’’; and 

5 (3) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘includes 

6 the information’’ and inserting ‘‘includes in a 

7 digitized format the information’’. 

8 (b) REQUIRING IMMEDIATE POSTING OF STATE9 MENTS UPON RECEIPT.—Section 6(d)(2) of such Act (22 

10 U.S.C. 616(d)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘as soon as 

11 technically practicable’’ and inserting ‘‘immediately’’. 

12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

13 this section shall take effect upon the expiration of the 

14 180-day period which begins on the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act. 

Æ 


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