[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 28, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2006]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 28CFR5.2]

[Page 213-215]
 
                    TITLE 28--JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
 
                    CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
 
PART 5_ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT 
OF 1938, AS AMENDED--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  5.2  Inquiries concerning application of the Act.

    (a) General. Any present or prospective agent of a foreign 
principal, or the agent's attorney, may request from the Assistant 
Attorney General a statement of the present enforcement intentions of 
the Department of Justice under the Act with respect to any presently 
contemplated activity, course of conduct, expenditure, receipt of money 
or thing of value, or transaction, and specifically with respect to 
whether the same requires registration and disclosure pursuant to the 
Act, or is excluded from coverage or exempted from registration and 
disclosure under any provision of the Act.
    (b) Anonymous, hypothetical, non-party and ex post facto review 
requests excluded. The entire transaction which is the subject of the 
review request must be an actual, as opposed to hypothetical, 
transaction and involve disclosed, as opposed to anonymous, agents and 
principals. Review requests must be submitted by a party to the 
transaction or the party's attorney,

[[Page 214]]

and have no application to a party that does not join in the request. A 
review request may not involve only past conduct.
    (c) Fee. All requests for statements of the Department's present 
enforcement intentions must be accompanied by a non-refundable filing 
fee submitted in accordance with Sec.  5.5.
    (d) Address. A review request must be submitted in writing to the 
Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Attention: Chief, 
Registration Unit. The mailing address is 1400 New York Avenue, NW., 
room 9300, Washington, DC 20530.
    (e) Contents. A review request shall be specific and contain in 
detail all relevant and material information bearing on the actual 
activity, course of conduct, expenditure, receipt of money or thing of 
value, or transaction for which review is requested. There is no 
prescribed format for the request, but each request must include:
    (1) The identity(ies) of the agent(s) and foreign principal(s) 
involved;
    (2) The nature of the agent's activities for or in the interest of 
the foreign principal;
    (3) A copy of the existing or proposed written contract with the 
foreign principal or a full description of the terms and conditions of 
each existing or proposed oral agreement; and
    (4) The applicable statutory or regulatory basis for the exemption 
or exclusion claimed.
    (f) Certification. If the requesting party is an individual, the 
review request must be signed by the prospective or current agent, or, 
if the requesting party is not an individual, the review request must be 
signed on behalf of each requesting party by an officer, a director, a 
person performing the functions of an officer or a director of, or an 
attorney for, the requesting party. Each such person signing the review 
request must certify that the review request contains a true, correct 
and complete disclosure with respect to the proposed conduct.
    (g) Additional information. Each party shall provide any additional 
information or documents the Criminal Division may thereafter request in 
order to review a matter. Any information furnished orally shall be 
confirmed promptly in writing, signed by the same person who signed the 
initial review request and certified to be a true, correct and complete 
disclosure of the requested information.
    (h) Outcomes. After submission of a review request, the Criminal 
Division, in its discretion, may state its present enforcement intention 
under the Act with respect to the proposed conduct; may decline to state 
its present enforcement intention; or, if circumstances warrant, may 
take such other position or initiate such other action as it considers 
appropriate. Any requesting party or parties may withdraw a review 
request at any time. The Criminal Division remains free, however, to 
submit such comments to the requesting party or parties as it deems 
appropriate. Failure to take action after receipt of a review request, 
documents or information, whether submitted pursuant to this procedure 
or otherwise, shall not in any way limit or stop the Criminal Division 
from taking any action at such time thereafter as it deems appropriate. 
The Criminal Division reserves the right to retain any review request, 
document or information submitted to it under this procedure or 
otherwise and to use any such request, document or information for any 
governmental purpose.
    (i) Time for response. The Criminal Division shall respond to any 
review request within 30 days after receipt of the review request and of 
any requested additional information and documents.
    (j) Written decisions only. The requesting party or parties may rely 
only upon a written Foreign Agents Registration Act review letter signed 
by the Assistant Attorney General or his delegate.
    (k) Effect of review letter. Each review letter can be relied upon 
by the requesting party or parties to the extent the disclosure was 
accurate and complete and to the extent the disclosure continues 
accurately and completely to reflect circumstances after the date of 
issuance of the review letter.
    (l) Compliance. Neither the submission of a review request, nor its 
pendency, shall in any way alter the responsibility of the party or 
parties to comply with the Act.

[[Page 215]]

    (m) Confidentiality. Any written material submitted pursuant to a 
request made under this section shall be treated as confidential and 
shall be exempt from disclosure.

[Order No. 1757-93, 58 FR 37418, July 12, 1993]