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Con gressionol Research Service
Informing the legislitive debate since 1914
Updated March 9, 2023
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA): A Legal Overview
In 1938, Congress enacted the Foreign Agents Registration
Act (FARA) to reduce the influence of foreign propaganda
circulating in the United States. Anticipating that greater
transparency could help achieve these ends, Congress
imposed new registration, reporting, and record-keeping
requirements on individuals and entities acting within the
United States on behalf of foreign interests.
While the act has been amended many times, the early
framework endures: persons defined as agents of a
foreign principal must register with the U.S. government,
make a public record of the nature of their principal-agent
relationship, and maintain all private records for official
inspection. FARA includes broad registration exemptions,
however, and, because there have been relatively few
administrative or judicial enforcement actions over the
years, a number of ambiguities about the scope of the act's
requirements and exemptions persist.
Who Is a Foreign Prindpal?
FARA defines foreign principal to include
* governments of foreign countries;
* foreign political parties;
* entities organized under the laws of a foreign country or
having their principal place of business in a foreign
country; and
* persons outside the United States who are not U.S.
citizens domiciled in the United States.
Who Is a Foreign Agent?
FARA's definition of agent of a foreign principal has three
necessary components that focus on the type of influence
exerted over the agent, who is wielding influence over the
agent, and the activities the agent is performing as part of
this relationship.
First, an agent must act at the order, request, or under the
direction or control of another. The Second Circuit has
recognized that the exact parameters of a 'request' under
the act are difficult to locate, falling somewhere between a
command and a plea. Holding that no single factor is
determinative, the court determined that [o]nce a foreign
principal establishes a particular course of conduct to be
followed, those who respond to its 'request' for complying
action may properly be found to be agents under the Act.
This is a broader conception of agency than courts
traditionally apply in other areas of law, where a request
may not be enough to establish that the agent's actions
subject the principal to legal liability.
Second, an agent must act at the behest of either (1) a
foreign principal or (2) a person whose activities are
directly or indirectly supervised, directed, controlled,
financed, or subsidized in whole or in major part by a
foreign principal. Some lower courts have held that an
entity that receives foreign funding and acts to the benefit
of foreign interests is not required to register under FARA
unless the foreign funder subjects the recipient to its
direction or control.
Third, an agent must act within the United States in one of
the following ways:
* engaging in political activities in the interests of a
foreign principal, which FARA defines to include any
activities believed or intended to influence the U.S.
government or public about U.S. policy or other foreign
interests;
* acting as a publicity agent or political consultant in the
interests of the foreign principal;
* soliciting, collecting, or disbursing money or other
things of value in the interests of a foreign principal; or
* representing the interests of a foreign principal before
any agency or official of the U.S. government.
Who Is Exempt?
FARA provides that the following entities are not required
to register under the act:
* News or press services engaged in bona fide news or
journalistic activities that are
* organized under the laws of any U.S. jurisdiction;
* at least 80% beneficially owned by U.S. citizens;
* run by officers and directors who are U.S. citizens;
and
* not owned, directed, supervised, controlled,
subsidized, or financed by any foreign principal or
agent.
* Foreign diplomats, consular officers, or other
recognized officials and staff.
* Persons engaging in private and nonpolitical activities in
furtherance of a foreign principal's bona fide trade or
commerce. By regulation, commercial activities of state-
owned companies are considered private so long as
the activities do not directly promote the public or
political interest of the foreign government. However,
the Department of Justice (DOJ) has concluded that
tourism promotion is not private or nonpolitical activity
because tourism fosters economic development, which
is in every foreign government's public and political
interests.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govekvk0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)