Legislation – National Security Act 2023
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Part 4Foreign activities and foreign influence registration scheme
Political influence activities of foreign powers
72Requirement to register political influence activities of foreign powers
(1)
A person who holds office in or under, or is an employee or other member of staff of, a foreign power must not carry out political influence activities in the United Kingdom in that capacity if or to the extent that—
(a)
the person makes a misrepresentation about their activities or the capacity in which they act (whether generally or to a particular person), and
(b)
the activities are not registered with the Secretary of State by the foreign power.
(2)
Where the foreign power is a specified person, the prohibition in subsection (1) does not apply to the extent that the political influence activities are relevant activities for the purposes of section 68.
(3)
A misrepresentation is a representation that a reasonable person would consider to be false or misleading in a material way.
(4)
A misrepresentation may be made by making a statement or by any other kind of conduct (including an omission), and may be express or implied.
(5)
A misrepresentation may in particular include—
(a)
a misrepresentation as to the person’s identity or purpose;
(b)
presenting information in a way which amounts to a misrepresentation, even if some or all of the information is true.
(6)
(7)
In proceedings for an offence under subsection (6) it is a defence to show that the person—
(a)
took all steps reasonably practicable to determine whether the activities were registered, and
(b)
reasonably believed that the activities were registered.
(8)
A person is taken to have shown a matter mentioned in subsection (7) if—
(a)
sufficient evidence of the matter is adduced to raise an issue with respect to it, and
(b)
the contrary is not proved beyond reasonable doubt.