Title 18, Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-102

§3494 Certification of Genuineness of Foreign Document

Title 18 › PART II — CRIMINAL PROCEDURE › CHAPTER 223 — WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE › § 3494

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

If a consular officer, after hearing all testimony, believes a foreign document is genuine, the officer must certify it as genuine with the office seal and say they are not disqualified under section 3492. The officer must then mail the document, the testimony record, and the executed commission to the court clerk the same way official dispatches are sent. The clerk must open it, let the parties in the criminal case inspect the papers, and give them free copies.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §3494

Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

If the consular officer executing any commission authorized under section 3492 of this title shall be satisfied, upon all the testimony taken, that a foreign document is genuine, he shall certify such document to be genuine under the seal of his office. Such certification shall include a statement that he is not subject to disqualification under the provisions of section 3492 of this title. He shall thereupon transmit, by mail, such foreign documents, together with the record of all testimony taken and the commission which has been executed, to the clerk of the court from which such commission issued, in the manner in which his official dispatches are transmitted to the Government. The clerk receiving any executed commission shall open it and shall make any foreign documents and record of testimony, transmitted with such commission, available for inspection by the parties to the criminal action or proceeding in which such documents are to be used, and said parties shall be furnished copies of such documents free of charge.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on section 695d of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Judicial Code and Judiciary (June 20, 1936, ch. 640, § 5, 49 Stat. 1563).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 3494

Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102