Public Law 119-73 (01/23/2026)

18 U.S.C. § 3491

Foreign documents

section 3494 of this titlesection 3492 of this titlesection 3494 of this titleAny book, paper, statement, record, account, writing, or other document, or any portion thereof, of whatever character and in whatever form, as well as any copy thereof equally with the original, which is not in the United States shall, when duly certified as provided in , be admissible in evidence in any criminal action or proceeding in any court of the United States if the court shall find, from all the testimony taken with respect to such foreign document pursuant to a commission executed under , that such document (or the original thereof in case such document is a copy) satisfies the authentication requirements of the Federal Rules of Evidence, unless in the event that the genuineness of such document is denied, any party to such criminal action or proceeding making such denial shall establish to the satisfaction of the court that such document is not genuine. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to require authentication under the provisions of of any such foreign documents which may otherwise be properly authenticated by law.

June 25, 1948, ch. 64562 Stat. 834May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 5263 Stat. 96Pub. L. 88–619, § 278 Stat. 995Pub. L. 94–149, § 389 Stat. 806(, ; , ; , , ; , , .)

Historical and Revision Notes

Act1948

section 695a of title 28June 20, 1936, ch. 640, § 249 Stat. 1562Based on , U.S.C., 1940 ed., Judicial Code and Judiciary (, .)

Act1949

section 3491 of title 18This section [section 52] corrects , U.S.C., so that the references therein will be to the correct section numbers in title 28, U.S.C., as revised and enacted in 1948.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Federal Rules of Evidence, referred to in text, are set out in the Appendix to Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.

Amendments

Pub. L. 94–149section 1732 of Title 281975— substituted “the authentication requirements of the Federal Rules of Evidence” for “the requirements of ”.

Pub. L. 88–619section 1741 of Title 28section 3494 of this title1964— struck out “and ” after “” in two places.

1949—Act , substituted “section 1741” for “section 695e” and “section 1732” for “section 695” wherever appearing.