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Why a Foreign Agents Registration Act is not needed

Since 2022 a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) has been proposed in 5 parliaments. The first of these proposals did not get parliamentary attention – no committee, nor chamber considered it. The second FARA proposal was made in April 2023 which, by January 2024, had not been considered by any of the committees to which it was assigned.

Two months later, in the beginning of 2024, FARA surprisingly appeared on the parliamentary agenda for a first reading vote. At the time, no voting on the law took place due to a lack of quorum. In September 2024 FARA was proposed again in the 50th National Assembly’s last working month. The very next week after its submission, the law was considered in a parliamentary committee. Although it was rejected at the time, its submitters were adamant they will submit it again in the next National Assembly. This happened on 11.11.2024, the first moment possible after the 51st National Assembly was elected. In the beginning of 2025 surprisingly, the draft law appeared on the agenda of the plenary session again. However, this time, there was quorum and a debate took place.

In 2026, it took the “Revival” party two months after the elections of the 52nd National Assembly to ‘reheat’ its idea for the imposition of a repressive foreign agents law.

FARA is neither needed, nor acceptable in a democratic society for fulfilling its publicly announced goal – ensuring transparency

Insinuation with the name and a smear champaign

  • With its name the Foreign Agents Registration Act aims to create societal separation. ‘Foreign agent’ carriers the meaning of a spy or a traitor, i.e. the law insinuates there are internal enemies (the ‘agents’ registered according to this law), and aims to provoke discrimination against them.
  • In 2022, when FARA was first submitted, its proponents used the occasion to publish a black list of ‘foreign agents’ designated by them

A law meant for prohibition instead of transparency

FARA is presented by its proponents as a transparency measure. However, it is actually prohibitive and restrictive. The law provides for a number of repressive measures against those designated as ‘agents’ (see Arts. 11 and 12) – from a ban on activities in educational institutions to a ban on activities that may influence the domestic or foreign policy of a country (i.e. a ban on participation in public life).

FARA does not expose ‘foreign agents’, but pursues ‘nobody’s agents’

  • FARA does not require proof the person designated as an ‘agent’ act on someone else’s behalf, for someone’s account or in someone’s interest. According to the law, it is sufficient to receive money from abroad (over €1000 in total for one year in the form of money, covering expenses or in kind, originating abroad) to become an ‘agent’. In other words, these measures do not expose influence, rather they generally restrict ‘nobody’s agents’.
  • However, in Bulgaria, as in the entire EU, there are already working proportional measures in place which provide this information, namely the obligation to declare the actual owners of legal entities. For this reason, the labelling and the registry proposed with FARA are unnecessary and would be no more than measure for stigmatization and denigration.

A law against all

  • FARA obviously is aimed primarily towards the media and civil society organisations, but according to it, firms and individuals can also be ‘agents’. What is more, founders of designated ‘agents’, regardless of whether they currently have any relationship with the designated organization, are considered ‘individuals associated with foreign agents’, and prohibitions also apply to them.

There are already transparency rules in place

  • Non-governmental organisations and commercial companies are accountable (at minimum) to the Registry Agency, the National Statistical Institute and the National Revenue Agency.
  • The FARA proposes every ‘agent’ to be subject to an annual financial audit. Under the Accountancy Act, there are already clear and proportionate conditions for when commercial companies or non-governmental organizations are subject to an audit.

The section ‘Legal Meaning’ is realised within the framework of the project ‘Stronger Together: Engaging Other Sectors in Civil Society Initiatives (2026–2028)’