II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3172 

To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, to 

require registration statements filed under that Act to be filed in a 

structured data format to enable the statements to be digitized for 

purposes of the publicly available electronic database maintained under 

that Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 4, 2021 

Ms. LUMMIS (for herself and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) 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, 

as amended, to require registration statements filed 

under that Act to be filed in a structured data format 

to enable the statements to be digitized for purposes 

of the publicly available electronic database maintained 

under that 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 2021’’. 


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•S 3172 IS

1 SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS RELATING TO FARA REGISTRA2 TION STATEMENTS. 

3 (a) FORMAT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2(g) of the Foreign 

5 Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 

6 U.S.C. 612(g)), is amended— 

7 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

8 ‘‘ELECTRONIC’’ and inserting ‘‘FORMAT FOR’’; 

9 and 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘shall be filed’’ and all that 

11 follows through the period at the end and in12 serting the following: ‘‘shall be filed in— 

13 ‘‘(1) an electronic, structured data format 

14 under which the statement or supplement shall be 

15 published in a publicly available, machine16 processable digital format for purposes of the Na17 tional Foreign Agents Database under section 

18 6(d)(1); and 

19 ‘‘(2) such other formats as the Attorney Gen20 eral may require.’’. 

21 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

22 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to state23 ments and supplements filed under section 2 of the 

24 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amend25 ed (22 U.S.C. 612), on or after the date that is 180 

26 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 


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•S 3172 IS

1 (b) ELECTRONIC DATABASE.— 

2 (1) SEARCHABILITY AND SORTABILITY; DES3 IGNATION.—Section 6(d) of the Foreign Agents Reg4 istration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 

5 616(d)), is amended— 

6 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

7 ‘‘UPDATES’’ and inserting ‘‘SUPPLEMENTS’’; 

8 and 

9 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (i) in the matter preceding subpara11 graph (A), by striking ‘‘to the extent tech12 nically practicable, an electronic database 

13 that’’ and inserting ‘‘an electronic data14 base, to be known as the ‘National Foreign 

15 Agents Database’, that’’; and 

16 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

17 ‘‘includes the information contained in reg18 istration statements and updates’’ and in19 serting ‘‘includes, in a digitized format 

20 that achieves compliance with the applica21 ble digital accessibility standards described 

22 in section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 

23 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d), the information 

24 contained in registration statements and 

25 supplements’’. 


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•S 3172 IS

1 (2) POSTING ON RECEIPT.—Section 6(d)(2) of 

2 the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 

3 amended (22 U.S.C. 616(d)(2)), is amended— 

4 (A) by striking ‘‘update’’ each place it ap5 pears and inserting ‘‘supplement’’; and 

6 (B) by striking ‘‘as soon as technically 

7 practicable’’ and inserting ‘‘immediately’’. 

8 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

9 by this subsection shall take effect on the date that 

10 is 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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