Foreign influence registration scheme update

Following our earlier blog, the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme made under the National Security Act 2023 is due to come into effect from 1 July 2025.

Broadly speaking, FIRS requires individuals and organisations to register their arrangements with “foreign powers” and certain foreign power-controlled entities where they’re directed to carry out certain activities in the UK. It’s a two-tier scheme intended to promote transparency of foreign influence on UK politics.

The Government has published sector specific guidance which outlines some examples of how FIRS can apply to higher education and research. It explains the obligations to register in scope activities and arrangements as well as a range of related matters. The guidance emphasises that FIRS registration requirements do not in themselves mean the activity is illegitimate or undesirable. The requirement to register can apply to organisations such as higher education institutions as well as other entities such as subsidiaries and spinout companies. The requirement can also apply to individuals including potentially individual academics and even in some scenarios student societies and students.  

The registration requirements outlined below apply to both new and existing arrangements. For existing “live” arrangements already in place on 1 July, there’s a 3-month grace period to register the arrangement so that such arrangements must be registered by 1 October 2025. This grace period only applies to existing arrangements (under both tiers). Arrangements made on or after 1 July must be registered in accordance with the applicable time limits for the relevant tier.

The two tiers of the scheme are:

• The political influence tier requiring registration of “arrangements” with “foreign powers” to carry out “political influence activities in the UK”.
• The enhanced tier requiring registration of a wider range of activities where the foreign power or foreign-power controlled entity involved has been specified in regulations.

The sector specific guidance sets out the Government’s understanding of the detail of the legislation in the context of academia and research. In connection with the political influence tier, the guidance for example states that “entities that are owned or controlled by a foreign power, for example state-owned universities, laboratories or research institutes, are not considered foreign powers merely by virtue of this ownership.”

Whilst the requirements under each tier are complex and will only bite where the relevant definitions are met, having appropriate institutional systems in place to identify when arrangements may trigger registration, ensuring that staff (and, where appropriate, students) are aware of those systems, and reviewing compliance in practice is important as there are potential criminal offences where there is a failure to comply with the legislation.

The political influence tier

The political influence tier requires registration of “foreign influence arrangements” (FIAs).  

FIAs consist of a number of elements which must all be established:

1. There must be an agreement or arrangement between the individual(s) or organisations with a “foreign power”. The legislation and guidance contains further detail on the types of entity that constitute a “foreign power”. The Republic of Ireland is not classed as a foreign power for this purpose.
2. The foreign power must direct the other party to carry out “political influence activities in the UK”, or direct them to arrange for such activities to be carried out. “Agreements”, “arrangements” and “directions” may all be formal or informal, and Government guidance states that in some cases a “request” from a foreign power may be considered a “direction”. 
3. There is a detailed definition of what amounts to a “political influence activity” in the UK, which must also meet the “purpose” requirement outlined at paragraph 4 below. A political influence activity consists of any one of:

• Making communications (e.g. written, electronic or oral) to specified persons including certain types of UK politician (including devolved administrations), certain mayors, special advisers, and a range of public officials including specified civil servants, military and police officers/office-holders; or
• Making a public communication, except where it is reasonably clear from the communication that it is made by or at the direction of the foreign power. “Public communication” is further defined to include a wide range of publishing/dissemination of matters as well as producing information, documents or other articles for publication or dissemination; or
• Distributing money, goods or services to UK persons.

The guidance provides some examples of what might constitute political influence activities:

• "Communications with senior civil servants and ministers in a government department which seek to influence education policy;
• Appearance at select committees and other parliamentary activities which provide information seeking to influence MPs or peers;
• The publication of an article which encourages support for a Private Member’s Bill, without stating that the publication was directed by a foreign power;
• The presentation of research outcomes and associated policy proposals to senior civil servants.”

The tier-specific guidance also gives examples that “Cultural, political, language or economic institutes with links to a foreign power may be required to register if the foreign power provides overall direction to the institute to promote a particular agenda, and political influence activities (…) are an inevitable part of fulfilling their objectives”.

It also considers when the relevant conditions could be met for activities such as think tank research, arranging conferences and roundtables.

4. The purpose of the activity (or one of its purposes) must be to influence a specified matter or person which includes:

•  A wide range of specified UK elections / UK referenda; or
• ministerial decisions (both UK ministers and devolved administrations); or
• decisions of UK government departments; or
• the proceedings of a UK registered political party (such as their manifesto commitments); or
• members of parliament (again including the parliaments / assemblies of the devolved administration).

5. There are some exemptions to the requirement to register, as mentioned below.

If all the conditions are met and no exemption applies, the organisation or individual concerned is required to register the arrangement.

Arrangements must be registered within 28 days of being made. Failure to register is a criminal offence. There are also offences of knowingly carrying out political influence activities that are unregistered after the end of the registration period, subject to a defence that the person took all steps reasonably practicable to determine whether the arrangement was registered and reasonably believed that it was registered. These offences are punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine. Offences under the Act may be committed by the organisation or by individual officers, managers or similar persons. Individuals may also commit offences, where they are (or should be) the registering party. Individuals and organisations may also commit offences where they are not the registering party but are “acting pursuant” to a registrable instrument (see below).

The enhanced tier

The enhanced tier requires registration of “foreign activity arrangements” (FAAs).

Again, a number of elements must be established:

1. There must be an agreement or arrangement between an individual(s) or organisation and a “specified person”. Regulations determine who is a specified person, which may be a foreign power (which can include for example heads of state and/or ministers acting in that capacity) or a person the Secretary of State reasonably believes is controlled by a foreign power. Under the enhanced tier, the Government has to date specified foreign powers / entities connected to Russia and Iran. Again, it has published further guidance. Agreements and arrangements can be formal or informal.
2. Under the FAA, the specified person must direct the other party to carry out “relevant activities” in the UK or arrange for such activities to be carried out. “Directions” can be formal or informal. The tier specific guidance also states that in some cases a “request” from a specified foreign power may be considered a “direction”.
3. All activities are classed as “relevant activities”, unless regulations specify otherwise in relation to the specified person in question (making it necessary to check the relevant country-specific regulations and guidance). 
   
   The sector guidance gives the following examples of what might be “relevant” activities under the enhanced tier:

• "Hosting an event or conference in the UK at the direction of a specified foreign power or specified foreign power-controlled entity;
• Undertaking a research project directed by a specified foreign power or specified foreign power-controlled entity;
• Sending information from the UK to a specified foreign power or specified foreign power-controlled entity.”

Similarly to the political influence tier, the tier-specific guidance mentions how the tier may apply in relation to cultural, political language or economic institutes with links to a specified foreign power.

4. There are again some exemptions to the requirement to register.

As with the political influence tier, the organisation or individual is required to register the arrangement. Enhanced tier arrangements must be registered within 10 calendar days and before activities are carried out. Failure to register is an offence. There are also offences of knowingly carrying out relevant activities without registration, subject to a defence in some cases that the person took all steps reasonably practicable to determine whether the arrangement was registered and reasonably believed that it was registered. The maximum penalty for these offences is five years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

In addition to the above, specified persons who are not foreign powers must not carry out relevant activities in the UK unless the specified person has also registered the activity. There are also provisions relating to the employees of such specified persons and persons who hold office in or under a specified person.

Where an arrangement is in scope of both tiers (such as where someone carries out political influence activity for a specified foreign power), this only needs to be registered once under the enhanced tier.

Registration and exemptions

For both tiers, the requirement to register applies to the individual or organisation who makes the registerable arrangement with the foreign power, specified foreign power or foreign power-controlled entity.

Under the political influence tier, the following information is required:

• A description of the nature and form of the arrangement
• The name of the foreign power directing the activity
• A description of the activities to be undertaken, including their nature, purpose and any sought outcomes
• Details of the start and end dates of the activities
• Details of the individuals or entities who will carry out the activities
• Details related to the registrant (including address and contact details)

Similar information is required under the enhanced tier. The guidance on registration confirms that registering entities must assign a “Senior Responsible Officer” (SRO) who is responsible for ensuring the entity complies with FIRS. The sector specific guidance does not refer to the SRO role specifically but mentions the need to provide details of an “officer of the university” who presumably is the SRO: “This officer should be a member of the senior management of the university, such as a vice-chancellor.” The identity of the individual will need to be verified.

The sector guidance also provides a number of more detailed case study examples of some scenarios when registration might or might not be required, both from the perspective of an institution and an individual academic. It also outlines some scenarios where a student society or exceptionally a student (typically a student connected to a specified country) might have to register an arrangement.

The guidance also outlines the exemptions to registration, which may apply in particular circumstances. Exemptions may be available for example where certain UK Government bodies are also party to the same arrangement. There is also a potential exemption under the enhanced tier where UK public bodies like UKRI are also a party to the same arrangement (but the exemption does not apply to “political influence” activities). Under the enhanced tier, specific exemptions and conditions can also apply to the provision of specified higher and further education courses (including for example requirements to have any relevant Academic Technology Approval Scheme certificate in place before commencement of the course). There are some other exemptions, including for lawyers in certain circumstances.

Given the potential non-compliance penalties, institutions and relevant staff will need to be careful to ensure that relevant exemptions are only relied on where the various conditions are met. The guidance gives some examples highlighting this.

Also outlined in the sector guidance are the Government’s views on matters such as:

• When research projects for or in collaboration with foreign powers might be registrable, as well as the position of individual academics and researchers
• Research grants, consultancy and other funding arrangements
• When policy workshops or conference activities might be registrable
• Student political campaigning activity
• Philanthropic donations
• Inbound and outbound academic visitors and students from countries whose government has been “specified”
• Partnerships with state-controlled universities

Material changes to registered information must be updated within 14 calendar days. The guidance suggests this might include:

• a change to the end date of the registered activity
• involvement of new researchers or academics that are external to the organisation that has registered and new activities
• new registrable activities carried out under an existing arrangement

Again, the guidance gives more detailed examples of what might be “material”.

“Acting pursuant” to a registrable instrument

As mentioned above, under both tiers the National Security Act provides that an offence can be committed where someone other than the party to the registrable arrangement is involved in “carrying out” activities under a registrable arrangement and they know or ought reasonably to know about the registration requirement. It is a defence for such a person to show that they took all steps reasonably practicable to determine whether the arrangement was registered, provided they also reasonably believed that the arrangement was in fact registered. The guidance references in places that this obligation might apply to organisations, employees, subcontractors or other individuals or entities, depending on the circumstances. It explains that where someone in this position knows or ought reasonably to know about the registration requirement they must check that the arrangement is correctly registered prior to carrying out the activity.

Individuals and institutions should also consider what due diligence processes, guidance and record-keeping might be appropriate in particular circumstances.

Publication and other registration/approvals

Certain information about political influence activity (under either tier) will usually appear on a public register. Other registrations under the enhanced tier, such as registrable research activity with no political influence element should not appear on the public register.

There are also specific exceptions to publication (either of all or parts of the usually published information), including where publication would involve disclosing commercially sensitive information or where there is a significant risk to an individual’s safety. Any claim to an exception must be supported by evidence – in the case of commercially sensitive information, the information must be confidential and publication must be “highly likely seriously to prejudice the commercial interests of any person”. Harm to a person’s reputation solely by virtue of being associated with a registration is not treated as meeting this test.

The FIRS scheme remains separate from other registration/approval schemes, including ATAS, the National Security and Investment Act 2021, UK export controls etc.

Compliance

Whilst registration is only required where the relevant conditions are met, and where no exemption applies, the potential liabilities mean that compliance with the FIRS regime does require careful thought.

Institutions will be considering a range of compliance matters such as:

• Identifying existing and planned arrangements that might require registration
• Awareness raising and training for relevant staff
• Awareness raising for students and students’ unions / societies, including students and prospective students from “specified foreign powers” (currently Russia and Iran)
• Implementing relevant controls and record-keeping through guidance, policies, systems and procedures
• Updating institutional risk registers
• Due diligence and record-keeping (such as checking that a third party has registered their activity, checks on whether activities are registrable, documenting any exemptions that apply)
• Reviewing and considering arrangements and contract terms. Considering whether appropriate contractual provisions are needed and/or helpful.

Please contact the authors or your usual Mills & Reeve contact if your institution needs assistance in relation to the FIRS regime or other compliance matters.