Scope of The Act
The act requires people and organizations that are under foreign control ("agents of a foreign principal") to register with the Department of Justice when acting in any capacity, even if only indirectly controlled, on behalf of a foreign principal. It also requires periodic disclosure of all activities and finances. The Act covers political activities, public relations counsel, publicity agents, information-service employees, political consultants, fundraisers or those who represent the foreign power before any agency or official of the United States government. It does not include news or press services not owned by the foreign principal.
Examples of organizations lobbying on behalf of foreign governments are DLA Piper, Dickens & Madson Canada, Invest Northern Ireland, Japan National Tourism Organization and Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions.
FARA is one of several federal statutes aimed at individuals called foreign agents (see, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 951; Public Law 893, 50 U.S.C. §§ 851-857; and 18 U.S.C. § 2386.) There are federal statutes authorizing the exemption of otherwise covered agents (See, e.g., the Taiwan Relations Act and the Compact of Free Association with the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.) Others target specific agents, such as federal legislation shutting down the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington, DC, in 1981 and Executive Order 12947 (1995) which prohibits fundraising within the United States on behalf of groups opposed to the peace process in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Comprehensive Terrorism Prevention Act of 1995 prohibits, among other things, fundraising which is done to benefit foreign organizations designated by the United States as terrorist.
Read more about this topic: Foreign Agents Registration Act
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