18 USC § 3491 - Foreign documents

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s3491"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "18 USC § 3491 - Foreign documents"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
section_number: "3491"
section_name: "Foreign documents"
chapter_number: 223
chapter_name: "WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE"
part_number: "II"
part_name: "CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-21"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(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.)"
---


# § 3491. Foreign documents

section 3494 of this titlesection 3492 of this titlesection 3494 of this title

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 , 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 , 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  of any such foreign documents which may otherwise be properly authenticated by law.

---

**Source Credit**: (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 , U.S.C., 1940 ed., Judicial Code and Judiciary (, .)

### 1949 Act

This section [section 52] corrects , 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— substituted “the authentication requirements of the Federal Rules of Evidence” for “the requirements of ”.

1964— struck out “and ” after “” in two places.

1949—Act , substituted “section 1741” for “section 695e” and “section 1732” for “section 695” wherever appearing.