18 U.S.C. § 3491 — Foreign documents

Page 773 TITLE 18—CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE § 3492 ‘‘General Accounting Office’’ was substituted for ‘‘proper accounting officer of the Treasury’’. Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2004—Pub. L. 108–271 substituted ‘‘Government Ac- countability Office’’ for ‘‘General Accounting Office’’. § 3488. Intoxicating liquor in Indian country as evidence of unlawful introduction The possession by a person of intoxicating liq- uors in Indian country where the introduction is prohibited by treaty or Federal statute shall be prima facie evidence of unlawful introduction. (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 834.) HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES Based on section 245 of title 25, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Indi- ans (May 18, 1916, ch. 125, § 1, 39 Stat. 124). The only change made was the insertion of the word ‘‘Indian’’ before ‘‘country’’, to substitute specificity for generality. (See definition of ‘‘Indian country’’ in sec- tion 1151 of this title.) § 3489. Discovery and inspection—(Rule) SEE FEDERAL RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Inspection of documents and papers taken from de- fendant, Rule 16. (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 834.) § 3490. Official record or entry—(Rule) SEE FEDERAL RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Proof of official record or entry as in civil actions, Rule 27. (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 834.) § 3491. Foreign documents Any 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 section 3494 of this title, 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 exe- cuted under section 3492 of this title, 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 con- tained herein shall be deemed to require authen- tication under the provisions of section 3494 of this title of any such foreign documents which may otherwise be properly authenticated by law. (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 834; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 52, 63 Stat. 96; Pub. L. 88–619, § 2, Oct. 3, 1964, 78 Stat. 995; Pub. L. 94–149, § 3, Dec. 12, 1975, 89 Stat. 806.) HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES 1948 ACT Based on section 695a of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Judi- cial Code and Judiciary (June 20, 1936, ch. 640, § 2, 49 Stat. 1562.) 1949 ACT This section [section 52] corrects section 3491 of title 18, 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 1975—Pub. L. 94–149 substituted ‘‘the authentication requirements of the Federal Rules of Evidence’’ for ‘‘the requirements of section 1732 of Title 28’’. 1964—Pub. L. 88–619 struck out ‘‘and section 1741 of Title 28’’ after ‘‘section 3494 of this title’’ in two places. 1949—Act May 24, 1949, substituted ‘‘section 1741’’ for ‘‘section 695e’’ and ‘‘section 1732’’ for ‘‘section 695’’ wherever appearing. § 3492. Commission to consular officers to au- thenticate foreign documents (a) The testimony of any witness in a foreign country may be taken either on oral or written interrogatories, or on interrogatories partly oral and partly written, pursuant to a commis- sion issued, as hereinafter provided, for the pur- pose of determining whether any foreign docu- ments sought to be used in any criminal action or proceeding in any court of the United States are genuine, and whether the authentication re- quirements of the Federal Rules of Evidence are satisfied with respect to any such document (or the original thereof in case such document is a copy). Application for the issuance of a commis- sion for such purpose may be made to the court in which such action or proceeding is pending by the United States or any other party thereto, after five days’ notice in writing by the appli- cant party, or his attorney, to the opposite party, or his attorney of record, which notice shall state the names and addresses of witnesses whose testimony is to be taken and the time when it is desired to take such testimony. In granting such application the court shall issue a commission for the purpose of taking the testi- mony sought by the applicant addressed to any consular officer of the United States conven- iently located for the purpose. In cases of testi- mony taken on oral or partly oral interrog- atories, the court shall make provisions in the commission for the selection as hereinafter pro- vided of foreign counsel to represent each party (except the United States) to the criminal ac- tion or proceeding in which the foreign docu- ments in question are to be used, unless such party has, prior to the issuance of the commis- sion, notified the court that he does not desire the selection of foreign counsel to represent him at the time of taking of such testimony. In cases of testimony taken on written interrogatories, such provision shall be made only upon the re- quest of any such party prior to the issuance of