Title: Chinese Communist Party Influence Transparency Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Chinese Communist Party Influence Transparency Act
This bill requires an agent of a Chinese business entity to register as an agent of a foreign principal in certain instances.
The bill's provisions shall apply to an entity that (1) is organized under the laws of China and has its principal place of business there, unless the entity is a Chinese subsidy or affiliate of a non-Chinese entity; or (2) has been designated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as being subject to the Chinese Communist Party's extrajudicial direction.
Generally, under current law, an agent of a foreign principal engaging in lobbying in the United States must periodically file disclosures with DOJ, with specified exemptions. Under the bill, an existing exemption for a foreign agent that engages only in private and nonpolitical activities to further trade and commerce shall not apply to an agent operating on behalf of such a Chinese entity. Similarly, another existing exemption for an agent that has already registered as a lobbyist shall not apply to an agent working for such a Chinese entity.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4843 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Chinese Communist Party Influence 
Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. REPEALING CERTAIN EXEMPTIONS FROM REGISTRATION UNDER FOREIGN 
              AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938 BY AGENTS REPRESENTING 
              CHINESE BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 
amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 3 
the following:

``SEC. 3A. SPECIAL RULES FOR AGENTS REPRESENTING CHINESE BUSINESS 
              ORGANIZATIONS.

    ``(a) Repeal of Exemption From Registration for Persons Providing 
Private and Nonpolitical Representation of Bona Fide Trade or 
Commercial Interests.--Section 3(d)(1) shall not apply to an agent of a 
covered Chinese business organization.
    ``(b) Repeal of Exemption From Registration for Persons Filing 
Disclosure Reports Under Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.--
            ``(1) Repeal.--Section 3(h) shall not apply to an agent of 
        a covered Chinese business organization.
            ``(2) Timing for filing of registration statements.--In the 
        case of an agent of a covered Chinese business organization who 
        has registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 
        U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), after the agent files the first 
        registration required under section 2(a) in connection with the 
        agent's representation of the covered Chinese business 
        organization, the agent shall file all subsequent statements, 
        information, or documents required under section 2 at the same 
        time, and in the same frequency, as the reports filed with the 
        Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the 
        Senate (as the case may be) under section 5 of the Lobbying 
        Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604) in connection with the 
        agent's representation of the covered Chinese business 
        organization.
    ``(c) Covered Chinese Business Organization Defined.--In this 
section, the term `covered Chinese business organization' means--
            ``(1) an entity described in section 1(b)(3) which is 
        organized under the laws of, or has its principal place of 
        business in, the People's Republic of China (including any 
        subsidiary or affiliate of such an entity), except that such 
        term does not include a subsidiary or affiliate of an entity 
        which is organized under the laws of, and has its principal 
        place of business in, a country other than the People's 
        Republic of China; or
            ``(2) an entity designated by the Attorney General as 
        subject to the extrajudicial direction of the Chinese Communist 
        Party.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Repeal of exemption.--Section 3 of such Act (22 U.S.C. 
        613) is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ``in 
                private'' and inserting ``except as provided in section 
                3A(a), in private''; and
                    (B) in subsection (h), by striking ``Any agent'' 
                and inserting ``Except as provided in section 3A(b), 
                any agent''.
            (2) Timing of filing of registration statements.--Section 
        2(b) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 612(b)) is amended in the first 
        sentence by striking ``six months succeeding such filing'' and 
        inserting ``six months succeeding such filing (except as 
        provided in section 3A(b)(2))''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this Act shall take 
effect 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
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