---
kind: "section"
citation: "18 U.S.C. § 3505"
title: "18"
title_heading: "Crimes and Criminal Procedure"
number: "3505"
heading: "Foreign records of regularly conducted ac­tivity"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/18/3505"
units:
  - "Part II — Criminal Procedure"
  - "Chapter 223 — Witnesses and Evidence"
---

# §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;

    unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness.

  - (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.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1217(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2165.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1220, Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2167, provided that: “This part [part K (§§ 1217–1220) of chapter XII of title II of Pub. L. 98–473, enacting this section and sections 3292, 3506, and 3507 of this title and amending section 3161 of this title] and the amendments made by this part shall take effect thirty days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 12, 1984].”