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New Foreign Sponsorship Disclosure Recordkeeping Requirements Become Effective, But FCC Provides Last-Minute Reprieve

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With publication of OMB approval in the Federal Register, today was the effective date for amendments to Section 73.1212(j) of the FCC’s Rules, which governs sponsorship identification for broadcast programming that “has been provided by a foreign governmental entity.”  Under those amendments, broadcast licensees would need to use one of two recordkeeping methods to demonstrate compliance with the foreign sponsorship disclosure rules.

Late today, however, the FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice stating:

By this Public Notice, the Bureau announces that OMB has approved the rule modifications which revise requirements under 47 CFR § 73.1212(j)(3).  Accordingly, these revised requirements are now effective as of June 10, 2025.  However, the Bureau defers requiring compliance with the revised rules under 47 CFR § 73.1212(j)(3) until 6 months after June 10, 2025, or December 8, 2025. Only new leases and renewals of existing leases entered into on or after the compliance date must comply with the rule modifications.

So while the amended rules did go into effect today, broadcasters won’t need to come into compliance with the new recordkeeping requirements until December 8, 2025.  Until that time, you can read a detailed description of how the currently applicable pre-amendment rule works here.

Hopefully, today’s announced delay is a cause for optimism that a deregulatory FCC might use the additional time to streamline these cumbersome requirements.  If not, however, on December 8, 2025, stations will need to maintain records verifying whether a party leasing airtime is a “foreign governmental entity” for purposes of providing adequate disclosures through one of the following two recordkeeping methods:

Certification Approach

Stations and lessees of airtime must each complete a written certification reflecting that the station made the required inquiries regarding foreign governmental sponsorship.  Parties may use the FCC’s own “check-box” templates (Appendices C and D to the FCC’s Order), or create their own certification forms, provided that the forms collectively address the following required certifications:

  • Whether the licensee informed the airtime lessee of the foreign sponsorship disclosure requirement;
  • Whether the licensee asked about, and whether the lessee is, a “foreign governmental entity,” which includes foreign governments, foreign political parties, agents of foreign principals (as defined by the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA), and U.S.-based foreign media outlets;
  • Whether the licensee asked about, and whether the lessee knows of, any entity or individual further back in the production or distribution chain that meets the definition of a foreign governmental entity and has provided some form of inducement to air the programming;
  • Whether the licensee sought a written certification from the lessee certifying lessee’s answers; and
  • Whether the licensee obtained the necessary information for a disclosure where one is required.

These certifications must be dated and signed by an appropriate representative of each party and retained in the licensee’s records as discussed below.

Screenshot Approach

As an alternative to certifications, licensees may ask lessees to provide screenshots of their search results when searching for themselves in the following two federal databases:

This option places the responsibility for conducting the searches on the lessee and, the FCC believes, avoids triggering the investigatory concerns raised by the D.C. Circuit. Licensees must still conduct and document the same underlying foreign sponsorship inquiries (but without need of written certifications) and retain the lessee responses in their records.

Regardless of which approach a station adopts by December 8, it must retain documentation of its diligence efforts—whether certifications or screenshots—for the remainder of the license term or one year, whichever is longer.  The records may be stored in either the licensee’s Public Inspection File or in its internal files, as long as the documents are promptly made available to the FCC upon request.