Policy background Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (Part 4)
Part 4 introduces measures relating to the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. The scheme delivers a key recommendation of the Intelligence and Security Committee’s 2020 Russia Report. Similar schemes have been implemented in the U.S. (the Foreign Agent Registration Act 1938) and Australia (the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018).
	The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme has been created to strengthen the resilience of the UK political system against covert foreign influence and provide greater assurance around the activities of specified foreign powers or entities.
	Governments around the world, including the UK, seek to advance their interests through the lobbying and influencing of other states. We continue to welcome open and transparent engagement from foreign governments and entities, and the scheme will not prevent this. It will play a critical role in encouraging transparency, while simultaneously deterring foreign powers that wish to pursue their aims covertly.
	The scheme’s requirements apply to any person, regardless of nationality, and will be enforced through a range of offences and penalties, as well as powers to request information. The scheme requires the registration of ‘political influence activities’ where they are to be carried out within the UK at the direction of any foreign power. Certain registered information will be made available to the public via a scheme website, similar to the schemes of our Australian and U.S. partners.
	The scheme also contains a power to specify a foreign power, part of a foreign power, or an entity subject to foreign power control, where the Secretary of State considers it necessary to protect the safety or interests of the UK. It requires a person acting within the UK at the direction of a specified foreign power or entity subject to foreign power control to register with the scheme. It requires a specified entity to register activities they intend to carry out within the UK with the scheme. There is also a power which may be used to make modifications to the types of activities requiring registration under this tier. Use of these powers is subject to Parliamentary approval.
	The scheme does not require registration from, or otherwise provides explicit exemption for, individuals to whom privileges and immunities apply in international law as provided by, for example, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic and Consular Relations; legal services, as well as information subject to legal professional privilege; domestic and foreign news publishers (political influence tier only), including confidential journalistic material and sources; and arrangements which the UK is party to.
	The scheme has also been designed to uphold the letter and spirit of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. To that end, any arrangement with Ireland is exempt from registration.