US Seeks Public Advice On New Rules For Registering Foreign Agents - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2021) The US Department of Justice published a 12-page public questionnaire soliciting advice before it publishes a new regulations for the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a law that gained prominence in prosecutions of Trump administration officials and allies for not disclosing work on behalf of foreign governments.

"The Department of Justice is issuing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register to seek public comment to help inform the Department's decision-making prior to its issuance of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). Through this process, the Department is seeking preliminary input from the public on the regulations as a whole and in response to 19 specific questions set forth in the ANPRM," a press release said on Wednesday.

The Justice Department plans a new set of FARA regulations to expand the scope of the law, in part by revising exemptions for lawyers, for some commercial activities and for individuals engaged in religious, scholastic or scientific research, the release said.

The Justice Department is also looking to modernize regulations to accommodate technological changes since the rules were last amended a decade ago, before an explosion of social media and online news outlets, the release added.

The 1938 law requires that people acting as agents of foreign governments register with the Justice Department and make periodic public disclosures of their activities, as well as their receipts and disbursements in support of these activities, according to the release.

The law was rarely enforced until Special Council Robert Mueller's investigation of alleged ties between former President Donald Trump and Russia - a probe that resulted in charges against more than a half dozen Trump aides and associates including Paul Manafort and Rick Gates for failing to register.