Wiley Updates its FARA Handbook for 2025

March 10, 2025

Wiley has updated its Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Handbook for 2025. FARA, a long-standing statute, seeks to ensure that all persons engaged in certain political and quasi-political activities within the United States on behalf of foreign entities and foreign persons properly disclose their activities to the U.S. government.

The handbook, authored by Tessa Capeloto, a partner in the International Trade Practice, provides an overview of FARA, including registration and recordkeeping requirements and exemptions, the penalties for noncompliance, and more. Additionally, the handbook outlines recent developments and shifts in FARA regulations and enforcement under the new Trump Administration, such as:

• The anticipated effects of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proposed amendments to FARA’s implementing regulations which have not been updated since 2007, including important clarifications to the commercial exemption and an expansion of permissible activities for attorneys under the legal exemption;
• The implications of DOJ’s recently issued advisory opinions, such as new guidance for nonprofits that have an agency relationship with a foreign entity and the reinforcement of the DOJ’s shift towards viewing the commercial exemption as a “domestic interest” exemption; and
• Recent FARA-related criminal and civil enforcement actions and the anticipated effects of the DOJ-wide charging memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, which restricts FARA criminal charges to more traditional espionage activities on behalf of foreign governments.

The updated handbook can be read here.