---
kind: "section"
citation: "18 U.S.C. § 3506"
title: "18"
title_heading: "Crimes and Criminal Procedure"
number: "3506"
heading: "Service of papers filed in opposition to official request by United States to foreign government for criminal evidence"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/18/3506"
units:
  - "Part II — Criminal Procedure"
  - "Chapter 223 — Witnesses and Evidence"
---

# §3506. Service of papers filed in opposition to official request by United States to foreign government for criminal evidence

- (a) Except as provided in [subsection (b)](#b) of this section, any national or resident of the United States who submits, or causes to be submitted, a pleading or other document to a court or other authority in a foreign country in opposition to an official request for evidence of an [offense](/usc/18/3156.md?p=a-2) shall serve such pleading or other document on the [Attorney General](/usc/18/3077.md?p=7) at the time such pleading or other document is submitted.
- (b) Any person who is a party to a criminal proceeding in a court of the United States who submits, or causes to be submitted, a pleading or other document to a court or other authority in a foreign country in opposition to an official request for evidence of an [offense](/usc/18/3156.md?p=a-2) that is a subject of such proceeding shall serve such pleading or other document on the appropriate [attorney for the Government](/usc/18/3127.md?p=5), pursuant to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, at the time such pleading or other document is submitted.
- (c) As used in this section, the term “official request” means a letter rogatory, a request under a treaty or convention, or any other request for evidence made by a court of the United States or an authority of the United States having criminal law enforcement responsibility, to a court or other authority of a foreign country.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1217(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2166.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective 30 days after Oct. 12, 1984, see section 1220 of Pub. L. 98–473, set out as a note under section 3505 of this title.