A foreign agent is any person or entity actively carrying out the interests of a foreign principal while located in another host country, generally outside the protections offered to those working in their official capacity for a diplomatic mission.
Foreign agents may be citizens of the host country. In contemporary English, the term has a generally pejorative connotation. A covert foreign agent, also known as a secret agent of a foreign government, may in some countries be presumed to be engaging in espionage.
Some countries have formal procedures to legalize the activities of foreign agents acting overtly. Laws covering foreign agents vary widely from country to country, and selective enforcement may prevail within countries, based on perceived national interest.
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Main article: Foreign Agents Registration Act |
In the United States, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) created a wide-ranging and detailed definition of "foreign agent".[1] The FARA was enacted in 1938 to counter Nazi propaganda.[2] The law is sometimes claimed to be used to target countries out of favor with an administration.[3] In 2021, the American Bar Association (ABA) called for a reform of FARA, including "renam[ing] FARA and otherwise replacing] the term 'agent of a foreign principal' with a term that elicits less stigma and causes less confusion".[4]
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Main article: Russian foreign agent law |
Under the Russian foreign agent law, non-governmental organizations, media outlets and private individuals have to designate themselves "foreign agents" in all external communication if they engage in "political activity", a broadly interpreted term, and receive any foreign funding. Specifically, it requires anyone who receives "support" or "influence" from outside Russia to register and declare themselves "foreign agents".[5]
The law was initially likened to FARA,[6] although its scope has since been expanded significantly to include anyone who has received foreign support of any kind or has ever been "affiliated" with foreign actors;[7] registrants are also prohibited from receiving state funding, teaching at state universities, or working with children.[8] Failure to comply is subject to legal consequences. Still, many human rights organizations resisted the requirement and in 2014 the law was amended to authorize the Justice Ministry to register organizations as foreign agents without their consent.[9]
In 2023, People's Power and Georgian Dream submitted a draft of new foreign agent law to the Parliament of Georgia. This caused the 2023 Georgian protests. The bill proposed that all non-governmental organizations and media outlets should disclose sources of their funding and register themselves as "agents of foreign influence" if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. The president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, supported the protesters and said she would veto the bill.[10][11][12] The parliament withdrew the bill after protests.[13][2]
Legislation similar to the US Foreign Agents Registration Act had been passed in Hungary.[14][15][16] On 13 June 2017, the Hungarian National Assembly adopted the Law No LXXVI of 2017 on the Transparency of Organisations which receive Support from Abroad. The law required "associations and foundations" which receive at least 7,2 million HUF annually from abroad to disclose sources of their funding, register with the court as "an organization receiving foreign funding" and indicate this label on their website and publications. The violations resulted in fines and ultimately revoking of the entity's legal status.
On 18 June 2020, the European Court of Justice ruled that the law violated European Union law by "introduc[ing] discriminatory and unjustified restrictions", violating free movement of capital and other guaranteed rights.[17][18] The law was revoked in 2021.
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Main article: Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 |
Australia's Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act (FITSA), enacted in December 2018, is based explicitly on FARA and was drafted in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice.[19] Like its American counterpart, FITSA establishes registration obligations for individuals and entities that undertake certain activities aimed at "political or governmental influence" on behalf of foreign principles. The law imposes a lifetime obligation on former cabinet ministers to register any activity they undertake on behalf of a foreign principal unless an exemption applies.[20]
Since 2021, Canada has considered implementing a foreign agent registry modeled on the disclosure laws of the U.S. and Australia.[21] As of August 2022, the Senate was considering Bill S-237, An Act to Establish the Foreign Influence Registry, which would publicly name all federal lobbyists acting for "a foreign government, an individual or entity related to a foreign government" and require disclosure of payments and identities of foreign clients, with penalties of up $200,000 in fines and two years’ imprisonment.[22] Unlike FARA, the proposed act emphasizes activities on behalf of governments, with sponsor Leo Housakos of Quebec stating that it would "[expose] those who seek to influence on behalf of foreign regimes" and "countries like" China, Iran and Russia.[22]
In March 2023, it was reported that the European Commission was working on a foreign agents law which would require commercial and nonprofit organizations around the European Union to reveal non-EU funding pertaining to transactions such as paying for academic study. This law aimed to contain influence of Russia and China and limit the corruption scandals such as Qatargate. A preliminary questionnaire supposed to feed into an impact assessment was sent out to the NGOs on behalf of the European Commission. The legislation is supposed to be modeled on the disclosure laws of the U.S. and Australia.[23]
On 16 January 2014, amid the Euromaidan protests, a group of laws was adopted in Ukraine, which defined a foreign agent as a public association that receives funding from foreign states, foreign and international non-governmental organizations, as well as individuals who are not citizens of Ukraine, and participates in political activities on the territory of Ukraine. According to the law, foreign agents had to be registered, face high scrutiny and additional tax measures. On 2 February 2014, the relevant law was repealed.
Legislation similar to the US Foreign Agents Registration Act has been passed in Republika Srpska.[24]