§ 3491. — Foreign documents.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 18USC3491]
TITLE 18--CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART II--CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
CHAPTER 223--WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE
Sec. 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 executed 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 contained herein shall be deemed
to require authentication 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, Sec. 52,
63 Stat. 96; Pub. L. 88-619, Sec. 2, Oct. 3, 1964, 78 Stat. 995; Pub. L.
94-149, Sec. 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., Judicial Code
and Judiciary (June 20, 1936, ch. 640, Sec. 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.
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.
