[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 28, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 28CFR5.2]

[Page 214-215]
 
                    TITLE 28--JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
 
                    CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
 
PART 5_ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 
 
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 for National Security 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, 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 for National Security, Department of Justice, 
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 National Security 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 National 
Security 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

[[Page 215]]

requesting party or parties may withdraw a review request at any time. 
The National Security 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 National Security Division from 
taking any action at such time thereafter as it deems appropriate. The 
National Security 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 National Security 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 for National Security 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.
    (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, as amended by Order No. 
2865-2007, 72 FR 10068, Mar. 7, 2007 ]