I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 452
To strengthen the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 9, 1995
Mr. TRAFICANT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To strengthen the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938,
as amended.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. STRENGTHENING THE FOREIGN AGENTS REG-
ISTRATION ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—
(1) AGENT OF A FOREIGN PRINCIPAL.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Section 1(c) of the
Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as
amended (22 U.S.C. 611(c)), is amended—
(i) by striking ‘‘agent of a foreign
principal’’ each place it appears and insert-
ing ‘‘representative of a foreign principal’’;
(ii) in paragraph (1)(iv), by striking
‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the end;
(iii) in paragraph (2), by striking the
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’;
and
(iv) by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘(3) any person who engages in political activi-
ties for purposes of furthering commercial, indus-
trial, or financial operations with a foreign principal.
For purposes of clause (1), a foreign principal shall be
considered to control a person in major part if the foreign
principal holds more than 50 percent equitable ownership
in such person or, subject to rebuttal evidence, if the for-
eign principal holds at least 20 percent but not more than
50 percent equitable ownership in such person.’’.
(B) FURTHER DEFINITION.—Section 1(d)
of that Act (22 U.S.C. 611(d)) is amended to
read as follows:
‘‘(d) The term ‘representative of a foreign principal’
does not include—
‘‘(1) any news or press service or association
organized under the laws of the United States or of
any State or other place subject to the jurisdiction
of the United States, or any newspaper, magazine,
periodical, or other publication for which there is on
file with the United States Postal Service informa-
tion in compliance with section 3685 of title 39,
United States Code, published in the United States,
solely by virtue of any bona fide news or journalistic
activities, including the solicitation or acceptance of
advertisements, subscriptions, or other compensation
therefor, so long as it is at least 80 percent bene-
ficially owned by, and its officers and directors, if
any, are citizens of the United States, and such
news or press service or association, newspaper mag-
azine, periodical, or other publication, is not owned,
directed, supervised, controlled, subsidized, or fi-
nanced, and none of its policies are determined by
any foreign principal defined in subsection (b) of
this section, or by any representative of a foreign
principal required to register under this Act; or
‘‘(2) any incorporated, nonprofit membership
organization organized under the laws of the United
States or of any State or other place subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States that is registered
under section 308 of the Federal Regulation of Lob-
bying Act and has obtained tax-exempt status under
section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
and whose activities are directly supervised, directed,
controlled, financed, or subsidized in whole by citi-
zens of the United States.’’.
(2) POLITICAL
PROMOTIONAL
OR
INFORMA-
TIONAL MATERIALS.—Section 1(j) of that Act (22
U.S.C. 611(j)) is amended—
(A) in the matter preceding clause (1), by
striking ‘‘propaganda’’ and inserting ‘‘pro-
motional or informational materials’’; and
(B) in clause (1), by striking ‘‘prevail
upon, indoctrinate, convert, induce, or in any
other way’’ and inserting ‘‘in any way’’.
(3) POLITICAL
ACTIVITIES.—Section 1(o) of
that Act (22 U.S.C. 611(o)) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘prevail upon, indoctrinate,
convert, induce, persuade, or in any other way’’
and inserting ‘‘in any way’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘or changing the domestic
or foreign’’ and inserting ‘‘enforcing, or chang-
ing the domestic or foreign laws, regulations,
or’’.
(b) SUPPLEMENTAL REGISTRATION.—Section 2(b) of
that Act (22 U.S.C. 612(b)) is amended—
(1) in the first sentence by striking ‘‘, within
thirty days’’ and all that follows through ‘‘preceding
six months’ period’’ and inserting ‘‘on January 31
and July 31 of each year file with the Attorney Gen-
eral a supplement thereto under oath, on a form
prescribed by the Attorney General, which shall set
forth regarding the six-month periods ending the
previous December 31, and June 30, respectively, or,
if a lesser period, the period since the initial filing,’’;
and
(2) by inserting after the first sentence the fol-
lowing new sentence: ‘‘Any registrant using an ac-
counting system with a fiscal year which is different
from the calendar year may petition the Attorney
General to permit the filing of supplemental state-
ments at the close of the first and seventh month of
each such fiscal year in lieu of the dates specified by
the preceding sentence.’’.
(c) REMOVAL OF EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN COUN-
TRIES.—Section 3(f) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 613(f)) is re-
pealed.
(d) LIMITING EXEMPTION FOR LEGAL REPRESENTA-
TION.—Section 3(g) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 613(g)) is
amended by striking ‘‘or any agency of the Government
of the United States’’ and all that follows through ‘‘infor-
mal’’ and inserting ‘‘or before the Patent and Trademark
Office, including any written submission to that Office’’.
(e) NOTIFICATION OF RELIANCE ON EXEMPTIONS.—
Section 3 of that Act (22 U.S.C. 613) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following:
‘‘Any person who does not register under section 2(a)
on account of any provision of subsections (a) through (g)
of this section shall so notify the Attorney General in such
form and manner as the Attorney General prescribes.’’.
(f) CIVIL PENALTIES AND ENFORCEMENT PROVI-
SIONS.—Section 8 of that Act (22 U.S.C. 618) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(i)(1) Any person who is determined, after notice
and opportunity for an administrative hearing—
‘‘(A) to have failed to file when such filing is
required a registration statement under section 2(a)
or a supplement thereto under section 2(b),
‘‘(B) to have omitted a material fact required to
be stated therein, or
‘‘(C) to have made a false statement with re-
spect to such a material fact,
shall be required to pay for each violation committed a
civil penalty of not less than $2,000 and not more than
$1,000,000. In determining the amount of the penalty, the
Attorney General shall give due consideration to the na-
ture and duration of the violation.
‘‘(2)(A) Whenever the Attorney General has reason
to believe that any person may be in possession, custody,
or control of any documentary material relevant to an in-
vestigation regarding any violation of paragraph (1) of
this subsection or of section 5, the Attorney General may,
before bringing any civil or criminal proceeding thereon,
issue in writing, and cause to be served upon such person,
a civil investigative demand requiring such person to
produce such material for examination.
‘‘(B) Civil investigative demands issued under this
paragraph shall be subject to the applicable provisions of
section 1968 of title 18, United States Code.’’.
(g) CHANGE IN SHORT TITLE OF THE ACT.—Section
14 of that Act (22 U.S.C. 611 note) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amend-
ed’’ and inserting ‘‘Foreign Interests Representation Act’’.
SEC. 2. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.
(a) REFERENCES TO AGENT OF A FOREIGN PRIN-
CIPAL.—The Foreign Interests Representation Act is
amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘agent of a foreign principal’’
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘representative
of a foreign principal’’;
(2) by striking ‘‘agents of foreign principals’’
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘representatives
of foreign principals’’;
(3) by striking ‘‘agent of such principal’’ each
place it appears and inserting ‘‘representative of
such principal’’; and
(4) by striking ‘‘such agent’’ each place it ap-
pears and inserting ‘‘such representative’’.
(b) REFERENCES TO POLITICAL PROPAGANDA.—
(1) The paragraph preceding section 1 of the
Foreign Interests Representation Act is amended by
striking ‘‘propaganda’’ and inserting ‘‘political’’.
(2) The Foreign Interests Representation Act
(other than the paragraph amended by paragraph
(1) of this subsection) is amended by striking ‘‘prop-
aganda’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘pro-
motional or informational materials’’.
(c) REFERENCES TO THE ACT.—
(1) Section 207(f)(2) of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Foreign Agents Reg-
istration Act of 1938, as amended,’’ and inserting
‘‘Foreign Interests Representation Act’’.
(2) Section 219 of title 18, United States Code,
is amended—
(A) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘agent of
a foreign principal required to register under
the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938,
as amended,’’ and inserting ‘‘representative of a
foreign principal required to register under the
Foreign Interests Representation Act’’; and
(B) in subsection (b)—
(i) by striking ‘‘agent of a foreign
principal’’ and inserting ‘‘representative of
a foreign principal’’;
(ii) by striking ‘‘such agent’’ and in-
serting ‘‘such representative’’; and
(iii) by striking ‘‘Foreign Agents Reg-
istration Act of 1938, as amended’’ and in-
serting ‘‘Foreign Interests Representation
Act’’.
(3) Section 5210(4) of the Competitiveness Pol-
icy Council Act (15 U.S.C. 4809(4)) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘agent of a foreign prin-
cipal’’ and inserting ‘‘representative of a foreign
principal’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘subsection (d) of the first
section of the Foreign Agents Registration Act
of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec-
tion 1(d) of the Foreign Interests Representa-
tion Act (22 U.S.C. 611(d)),’’.
(4) Section 34(a) of the Trading With the
Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. App. 34(a)) is amended by
striking ‘‘Act of June 8, 1934 (ch. 327, 52 Stat.
631), as amended’’ and inserting ‘‘Foreign Interests
Representation Act’’.
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