II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4843 

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to repeal the exemption from registration under such Act for persons providing private 

and nonpolitical representation of trade and commercial interests, and 

the exemption from registration under such Act for persons filing disclosure reports under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, in connection 

with the representation of business organizations organized under the 

laws of or having their principal place of business in the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 22 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 

Mr. COTTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 

to repeal the exemption from registration under such 

Act for persons providing private and nonpolitical representation of trade and commercial interests, and the 

exemption from registration under such Act for persons 

filing disclosure reports under the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995, in connection with the representation of 

business organizations organized under the laws of or 

having their principal place of business in the People’s 

Republic of China, and for other purposes. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4843 IS

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 ‘‘Chinese Communist 

5 Party Influence Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPEALING CERTAIN EXEMPTIONS FROM REG7 ISTRATION UNDER FOREIGN AGENTS REG8 ISTRATION ACT OF 1938 BY AGENTS REP9 RESENTING CHINESE BUSINESS ORGANIZA10 TIONS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Foreign Agents Registration 

12 Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) is 

13 amended by inserting after section 3 the following: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 3A. SPECIAL RULES FOR AGENTS REPRESENTING 

15 CHINESE BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS. 

16 ‘‘(a) REPEAL OF EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION

17 FOR PERSONS PROVIDING PRIVATE AND NONPOLITICAL

18 REPRESENTATION OF BONA FIDE TRADE OR COMMER19 CIAL INTERESTS.—Section 3(d)(1) shall not apply to an 

20 agent of a covered Chinese business organization. 

21 ‘‘(b) REPEAL OF EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION

22 FOR PERSONS FILING DISCLOSURE REPORTS UNDER

23 LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995.— 

24 ‘‘(1) REPEAL.—Section 3(h) shall not apply to 

25 an agent of a covered Chinese business organization. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4843 IS

1 ‘‘(2) TIMING FOR FILING OF REGISTRATION

2 STATEMENTS.—In the case of an agent of a covered 

3 Chinese business organization who has registered 

4 under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

5 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), after the agent files the first 

6 registration required under section 2(a) in connec7 tion with the agent’s representation of the covered 

8 Chinese business organization, the agent shall file all 

9 subsequent statements, information, or documents 

10 required under section 2 at the same time, and in 

11 the same frequency, as the reports filed with the 

12 Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Sec13 retary of the Senate (as the case may be) under sec14 tion 5 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

15 U.S.C. 1604) in connection with the agent’s rep16 resentation of the covered Chinese business organi17 zation. 

18 ‘‘(c) COVERED CHINESE BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

19 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘covered Chinese 

20 business organization’ means— 

21 ‘‘(1) an entity described in section 1(b)(3) 

22 which is organized under the laws of, or has its prin23 cipal place of business in, the People’s Republic of 

24 China (including any subsidiary or affiliate of such 

25 an entity), except that such term does not include a 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4843 IS

1 subsidiary or affiliate of an entity which is organized 

2 under the laws of, and has its principal place of 

3 business in, a country other than the People’s Re4 public of China; or 

5 ‘‘(2) an entity designated by the Attorney Gen6 eral as subject to the extrajudicial direction of the 

7 Chinese Communist Party.’’. 

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

9 (1) REPEAL OF EXEMPTION.—Section 3 of such 

10 Act (22 U.S.C. 613) is amended— 

11 (A) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘in 

12 private’’ and inserting ‘‘except as provided in 

13 section 3A(a), in private’’; and 

14 (B) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘Any 

15 agent’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 

16 section 3A(b), any agent’’. 

17 (2) TIMING OF FILING OF REGISTRATION

18 STATEMENTS.—Section 2(b) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 

19 612(b)) is amended in the first sentence by striking 

20 ‘‘six months succeeding such filing’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘six months succeeding such filing (except as pro22 vided in section 3A(b)(2))’’. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4843 IS

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

2 this Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of enact3 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS