Tessa Capeloto Weighs In on Legislation to Roll Back LDA Exemption in FARA

January 22, 2019

Tessa Capeloto, of counsel in Wiley Rein’s International Trade Practice, weighed in with Law360 about a Senate bill that would remove a key exemption in the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Under current law, firms that lobby on behalf of a foreign entity, and report their activities under the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), are exempt from FARA’s registration requirements. That exemption would be rolled back under legislation sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Removing the LDA exemption would make for a “huge, huge impact on Washington in particular,” Ms. Capeloto told Law360. She said many firms that currently disclose their representation of private foreign companies and foreign individuals under the LDA would have to switch to the FARA regime.

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