{"id":"F2018L01696","name":"Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Rules 2018","slug":"foreign-influence-transparency-scheme-rules-2018","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":98357,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2018L01696-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"Part 1","sectionType":"part","heading":"Preliminary","content":"## Part 1—Preliminary","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Name","content":"#### 1 Name\n\n This instrument is the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Rules 2018.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Authority","content":"#### 3 Authority\n\n This instrument is made under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Definitions","content":"#### 4 Definitions\n\n> Note: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in the Act.\n\n In this instrument:\n\n> ABN has the same meaning as in the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999.\n\n> Act means the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"Part 2","sectionType":"part","heading":"Registration under the scheme","content":"## Part 2—Registration under the scheme","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Exemptions: prescribed circumstances","content":"#### 5 Exemptions: prescribed circumstances\n\n (1) For the purposes of section 30 of the Act, a person is exempt in relation to an activity the person undertakes on behalf of a foreign principal if:\n (a) the person:\n (i) is employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984; or\n (ii) is a consultant engaged under that Act; or\n (iii) is a Commonwealth public official; and\n (b) undertaking the activity is within the scope of the functions that the person undertakes in the person’s capacity as such a person; and\n (c) at the time the activity is undertaken, the identity of the foreign principal is either apparent to all persons with whom the person is dealing or disclosed to them.\n (2) For the purposes of section 30 of the Act, a person is exempt in relation to an activity the person undertakes on behalf of a foreign principal if:\n (a) the activity is covered by item 2 of the table in subsection 21(1) of the Act (about general political lobbying in Australia for the purpose of political or governmental influence); and\n (b) the foreign principal or the person is taking part in a process relating to a federal government decision within the meaning of paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Act in order to comply with a law of the Commonwealth; and\n (c) the process involves the foreign principal or the person providing information in accordance with that law to the maker of the decision or another person assisting the maker of the decision, for the purposes of making the decision; and\n (d) at the time the activity is undertaken, the identity of the foreign principal is either apparent to all persons with whom the person is dealing or disclosed to them.","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"Part 3","sectionType":"part","heading":"Register of scheme information","content":"## Part 3—Register of scheme information","sortOrder":6},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"Information to be made publicly available on website","content":"#### 6 Information to be made publicly available on website\n\n For the purposes of paragraph 43(1)(c) of the Act, the following information is prescribed in relation to each person registered in relation to a foreign principal:\n (a) the trading name of the person (if applicable);\n (b) the ABN, or foreign equivalent, of the person (if applicable);\n (c) any other names by which the person is known;\n (d) if the person is an individual—the occupation of the person;\n (e) if the person is a former Cabinet Minister—that fact;\n (f) if the person is a recent designated position holder—that fact;\n (g) the trading name of the foreign principal (if applicable);\n (h) the ABN, or foreign equivalent, of the foreign principal (if applicable);\n (i) if the foreign principal is an individual:\n (i) the individual’s title (including any post‑nominals); and\n (ii) any other names by which the individual is known;\n (j) the name of the foreign country that the foreign principal is part of or related to;\n (k) the type of foreign principal;\n (l) a description of the registrable activities the person undertakes, has undertaken or proposes to undertake on behalf of the foreign principal;\n (m) the date, or period over which, the person undertakes, has undertaken or proposes to undertake the registrable activities on behalf of the foreign principal;\n (n) whether the person undertakes, has undertaken or proposes to undertake the registrable activities on behalf of the foreign principal:\n (i) under an arrangement with the foreign principal; or\n (ii) in the service of the foreign principal; or\n (iii) on the order or at the request of the foreign principal; or\n (iv) under the direction of the foreign principal;\n (o) a description of any arrangement, order, request or direction mentioned in paragraph (n);\n (p) if subparagraph (n)(ii) applies to the person—a description of the relationship between the person and the foreign principal.\n\n> Note: Subsection 43(2) of the Act provides for when certain information must not be included on the website.","sortOrder":7},{"sectionNumber":"6A","sectionType":"section","heading":"Information not to be included on website","content":"#### 6A Information not to be included on website\n\n (1) For the purposes of paragraph 43(2)(c) of the Act (about information not to be included on the website providing information on persons who are or have been registered in relation to a foreign principal), this section prescribes information:\n (a) that is sensitive; and\n (b) that:\n (i) was contained in an application for registration of a person, a notice given by a person under section 31, 34, 35, 36 or 37 of the Act in connection with registration of a person, or a renewal of registration of a person, relating to a foreign principal and an activity described in subsection (2) of this section; or\n (ii) accompanied such an application, notice or renewal; or\n (iii) was contained in a document accompanying such an application, notice or renewal.\n (2) Subparagraph (1)(b)(i) applies in relation to an activity for which all the following conditions are met:\n (a) the activity is or was undertaken on behalf of the foreign principal by the person;\n (b) the activity is or was undertaken in the context of confidential consultation of the foreign principal or the person by a person (the consulter) described in subsection (3) that:\n (i) was initiated by the consulter; and\n (ii) relates or related to a proposed policy or proposed change to an existing policy;\n (c) at the time the activity is or was undertaken, the identity of the foreign principal is or was either:\n (i) apparent to all persons with whom the person is or was dealing; or\n (ii) disclosed to them.\n (3) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(b), each of the following is a consulter:\n (a) a Commonwealth public official;\n (b) a Commonwealth entity (within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013) or a subsidiary of a Commonwealth entity (within the meaning of that Act);\n (c) a Commonwealth company (within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013);\n (d) an individual in the course of performing the individual’s functions in relation to a person or body mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).","sortOrder":8},{"sectionNumber":"7","sectionType":"section","heading":"Removal of publicly available information from website","content":"#### 7 Removal of publicly available information from website\n\n For the purposes of subsection 43(3) of the Act, the Secretary is to remove publicly available information from the website in the following circumstances:\n (a) the Secretary is satisfied that the information is not true;\n (b) the Secretary is satisfied that the information was provided in relation to an application for registration under the scheme that was fraudulently made.","sortOrder":9},{"sectionNumber":"Part 4","sectionType":"part","heading":"Communicating and dealing with scheme information","content":"## Part 4—Communicating and dealing with scheme information","sortOrder":10},{"sectionNumber":"8","sectionType":"section","heading":"Other purposes for communicating information","content":"#### 8 Other purposes for communicating information\n\n For the purposes of item 4 of the table in subsection 53(1) of the Act:\n (a) a purpose specified in an item in column 1 of the table in this section is a purpose for which the Secretary may communicate scheme information; and\n (b) a person specified in column 2 of that item is a person to whom that information may be communicated for that purpose.\n\n```html\n

Prescribed purposes and persons

Column 1

Column 2

Item

Communication for this purpose:

May be made to:

1

administering the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020

either of the following:

(a) the Minister who has responsibility for administering that Act;

(b) the Department administered by that Minister.

\n```","sortOrder":11}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument does not purport to amend the scope of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act itself. Instead it implements and clarifies operational details under the Act: it prescribes exemptions (section 5), the specific information to be published (section 6), the class of information to be withheld as sensitive (section 6A), circumstances for removal from the public website (section 7), and a prescribed external disclosure purpose and recipient (section 8). There is no statement in the instrument that it expands or contracts the Act’s statutory scope beyond these procedural and evidentiary prescriptions."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple conditional exemptions that reference roles in other Acts (section 5 referencing Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 and Commonwealth public officials).","Extensive cross-references to the primary Act for definitions and categories (note in section 4 and multiple provisions relying on the Act).","Detailed list of required public data items with conditional items depending on the registrant type (section 6).","A multi-part confidentiality exclusion that requires fact-specific determinations about whether an interaction was a confidential consultation and who the consulter was (section 6A(2)–(3)).","Discretionary removal power for the Secretary that depends on satisfaction of factual criteria (section 7).","Prescribed communication purpose that links the register to administration of another statute, requiring inter-agency coordination (section 8 and the table).","Need to interpret terms such as 'apparent', 'sensitive', 'recent designated position holder' and 'registrable activities' with reference to other statutory definitions."],"plain_english_summary":"What this instrument does, in plain terms\n\n- This instrument sets detailed rules for how the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (the Scheme) is to operate in practice. It is made under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 (see section 3). It defines a few terms (for example ABN) for use in the rules (see section 4). The rules supply: specific exemptions from the obligation to register (section 5); what registered persons’ information must appear on the Scheme website (section 6); what information must be kept off the website as “sensitive” (section 6A); when the Secretary must remove information from the website (section 7); and one prescribed purpose and recipients for communicating scheme information to others (section 8 and the accompanying table).\n\nWho is affected and who decides\n\n- People who undertake activities on behalf of a foreign principal and are therefore in scope of the Scheme are affected because the instrument prescribes registration details that may be published (see section 6). That includes individuals and organisations that register under the Scheme. It also specifically affects: employees under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984, consultants engaged under that Act, Commonwealth public officials (see section 5(1)); and people or foreign principals involved in confidential consultations with Commonwealth officials where the conditions in section 6A are met (see section 6A(2)–(3)).\n\n- The Secretary (an official role under the Act) has decision-making power under these rules: to remove information from the public website where the Secretary is satisfied the information is not true or was provided in a fraudulent application (see section 7), and to communicate scheme information for prescribed purposes and to prescribed recipients (see section 8 and the table).\n\nWhat information is published and what is withheld\n\n- The instrument lists the specific items that must be publicly available on the Scheme website for each registered person. Required items include trading names, ABN or foreign equivalent, other names, occupation (for individuals), whether the registrant is a former Cabinet Minister or recent designated position holder, foreign principal’s trading name and ABN (if applicable), the foreign country the principal is part of or related to, type of foreign principal, descriptions and dates of registrable activities, and how the activities are carried out (for example, under arrangement, in service of, or under direction of the foreign principal) (see section 6).\n\n- The instrument also prescribes a class of information that must not be published because it is “sensitive.” That excluded class covers material contained in an application or related notices or documents where the activity was undertaken as part of a confidential consultation initiated by a consulter (defined to include Commonwealth public officials, Commonwealth entities or companies, or individuals performing functions for them) about proposed policy or changes to policy, provided the identity of the foreign principal was apparent or disclosed at the time (see section 6A(1)–(3)).\n\nHow the rules change behaviour and create costs or incentives\n\n- Reporting and disclosure burden: Registered persons must provide the specific items listed in section 6 for public publication. That creates time and record-keeping costs for registrants and a verification burden for the administering office to display accurate entries.\n\n- Scope-limiting exemptions: The rules reduce the registration burden for certain people and activities. Section 5(1) exempts MPs’ staff, consultants engaged under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 and Commonwealth public officials when acting within their official remit and where the foreign principal’s identity is apparent or disclosed. Section 5(2) exempts some activities that fall under general political lobbying when they are part of a federal-government-decision process required by Commonwealth law and the foreign principal’s identity is apparent or disclosed. These carve-outs change who must register and therefore who bears disclosure costs (see section 5).\n\n- Confidential consultations: Section 6A excludes from public publication information about activities that occurred in confidential consultations with Commonwealth consult ers, subject to conditions. That reduces the public disclosure cost for foreign principals and participants in that specific context while preserving publication for other activities.\n\n- Administrative discretion and verification: The Secretary can remove entries from the website if satisfied the information is untrue or was provided in a fraudulent application (see section 7). The Secretary also has power to disclose scheme information to the Minister or Department responsible for administering Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020 for the purpose of administering that Act (see section 8 and the table). These powers create functions for the administering office to verify and share data and give officials discretion in removal and disclosure decisions.\n\nTrade-offs, compliance risk and implementation issues to note (source-linked)\n\n- Trade-off between transparency and confidentiality: Section 6 mandates detailed public disclosure; section 6A narrows that by excluding certain consultation materials. The net effect depends on whether interactions qualify as the confidential consultations described in section 6A(2).\n\n- Administrative and compliance costs: Registrants must supply a range of specific data items for public display (see section 6). The administering office must validate entries, apply exemptions, and operate the public website, including removal actions under section 7. These are concrete resource and process costs.\n\n- Discretion and evidentiary assessments: Removal of information requires the Secretary to be “satisfied” a statement is untrue or fraudulent (section 7). Determining whether information is “sensitive” for exclusion under section 6A involves applying the multi-part conditions in that section and identifying whether the consulter and the policy consultation conditions are satisfied. These assessments create judgement calls for officials.\n\n- Reliance on cross-references: Several provisions depend on terms and categories from the primary Act (the rules note many expressions are defined in the Act) and on other legislation referenced in the rules (for example the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 and the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020). That means implementation requires coordinated interpretation of multiple statutes (see note in section 4 and references in sections 5 and 8).\n\nConcentrated vs diffuse effects\n\n- Concentrated benefits: Specific groups — MPs’ staff, consultants engaged under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act, and Commonwealth public officials performing official functions (see section 5(1)) — face reduced registration requirements in the circumstances described. Participants in confidential, official consultations that meet the section 6A criteria also avoid public disclosure of sensitive material.\n\n- Diffuse costs: The public (and competitors, stakeholders) gains increased visibility about who is registered and what activities are being undertaken on behalf of foreign principals because of the public list required by section 6. The administering agency bears ongoing operational costs to run the register, decide removals (section 7), and manage disclosures (section 8).\n\nKey sections to consult directly\n\n- Exemptions from registration: section 5\n- What appears on the public website: section 6\n- What must be excluded from the website as sensitive: section 6A\n- When the Secretary removes information: section 7\n- Prescribed external disclosure purpose and recipients: section 8 (and the table item about the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020)\n\nSummary sentence\n\n- Mechanically, the instrument prescribes which activities and persons are exempt from registration (section 5), what registration data must be published (section 6), what material is to be withheld as sensitive (section 6A), how the Secretary removes fraudulent or untrue entries (section 7), and one permitted external use of the register for administering another Act (section 8). It assigns disclosure and verification tasks to the Secretary, creates specific reporting obligations for registrants, and balances public disclosure with a narrow confidentiality exception for certain official consultations."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument remains tightly scoped to its original purpose of operationalising the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018. It deals with registration exemptions, public disclosure requirements, and information handling—precisely the matters one would expect in subordinate legislation under that Act. No significant scope creep is evident."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple cross-references to the parent Act (Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018) requiring readers to flip between instruments","Nested conditional logic in section 5 with three cumulative requirements for exemptions (employment status, scope of functions, and disclosure)","Complex definitional chain in section 6A involving four levels: sensitive information → specific document types → activity conditions → consulter definitions","Table-based legislative drafting in section 8 with HTML formatting that complicates plain reading","Reliance on external statutory definitions (ABN, Commonwealth entity, Commonwealth company) from three other Acts"],"plain_english_summary":"This legislation sets out detailed operational rules for Australia's Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS), which requires people who work on behalf of foreign governments, companies or individuals to register their activities.\n\n**What it does:**\n\n* **Creates exemptions from registration** for certain people, including:\n * Parliamentary staff and Commonwealth public officials, provided they disclose which foreign principal they're working for when dealing with others\n * People engaged in political lobbying if they're simply complying with Commonwealth law (for example, making a mandatory submission to a government decision-maker) and they disclose the foreign principal's identity\n\n* **Specifies what information goes on the public register**, including:\n * Names and business details of both the Australian person and the foreign principal\n * Whether the person is a former Cabinet Minister or held a senior government position\n * What activities they're doing, when, and under what arrangement (contract, employment, request, or direction)\n\n* **Protects sensitive information** by keeping it off the public website when it involves confidential policy consultations initiated by government officials, provided the foreign principal's identity is disclosed\n\n* **Allows information sharing** with the Foreign Minister and their department for administering Australia's foreign relations laws\n\n* **Sets rules for removing false or fraudulent information** from the register\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\n* People and organisations who must register under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act\n* Government officials who need to access scheme information\n* The general public, who can view the register to see who is influencing Australian politics on behalf of foreign interests\n\n**Why it matters:**\n\nThese rules balance transparency about foreign influence with practical protections for legitimate government processes. The exemptions recognise that public officials sometimes legitimately interact with foreign entities as part of their jobs, while the confidentiality provisions protect sensitive policy discussions from premature public disclosure."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme-rules-2018","history":"/api/acts/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme-rules-2018/history","analysis":"/api/acts/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme-rules-2018/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme-rules-2018/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme-rules-2018/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme-rules-2018/documents"}}