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18 U.S.C. § 3505

Title 18 Chapter 223 Current through PL 119-73 Last updated: March 29, 2026 View on OLRC →
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§ 3505. Foreign records of regularly conducted ac­tivity

  • (a)
    • (1) In a criminal proceeding in a court of the United States, a foreign record of regularly conducted activity, or a copy of such record, shall not be excluded as evidence by the hearsay rule if a foreign certification attests that—
      • (A) such record was made, at or near the time of the occurrence of the matters set forth, by (or from information transmitted by) a person with knowledge of those matters;
      • (B) such record was kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity;
      • (C) the business activity made such a record as a regular practice; and
      • (D) if such record is not the original, such record is a duplicate of the original;
    • (2) A foreign certification under this section shall authenticate such record or duplicate.
  • (b) At the arraignment or as soon after the arraignment as practicable, a party intending to offer in evidence under this section a foreign record of regularly conducted activity shall provide written notice of that intention to each other party. A motion opposing admission in evidence of such record shall be made by the opposing party and determined by the court before trial. Failure by a party to file such motion before trial shall constitute a waiver of objection to such record or duplicate, but the court for cause shown may grant relief from the waiver.
  • (c) As used in this section, the term—
    • (1) “foreign record of regularly conducted activity” means a memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, maintained in a foreign country;
    • (2) “foreign certification” means a written declaration made and signed in a foreign country by the custodian of a foreign record of regularly conducted activity or another qualified person that, if falsely made, would subject the maker to criminal penalty under the laws of that country; and
    • (3) “business” includes business, institution, association, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind, whether or not conducted for profit.

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