1 "§ 1621. Perjury generally 2 3 4 5 6 7 བ 8 9. 10 11 "Whoever 3 "(1) having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any mate rial matter which he does not believe to be true; or “(2) in any declaration, certificate, verification, or 12 statement under penalty of perjury as permitted under 13 section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, willfully 14 subscribes as true any material matter which he does not 16 is guilty of perjury and shall, except as otherwise expressly 17 provided by law, be fined not more than $2,000 or im18 prisoned not more than five years, or both. This section is 19 applicable whether the statement or subscription is made 20 within or without the United States.". 21 SEC. 3. Section 931 of title 10, United States Code, is 22 amended to read as follows: 2 2 2 2G 23 "§ 931. Art. 131. Perjury 24 "Any person subject to this chapter who in a judicial 25 proceeding or in a course of justice willfully and corruptly 1 2 3 4 .5 6 7 8 4: '(1) upon a lawful oath or in any form allowed by law to be substituted for an oath, gives any false testimony material to the issue or matter of inquiry; or "(2) in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, subscribes any false statement material to the issue or matter of inquiry; 9 is guilty of perjury and shall be punished as a court-martial 10 may direct.". 11 SEC. 4. Section 152 of title 18, United States Code is 12 amended by inserting immediately after the second para13 graph the following new paragraph: 14 "Whoever knowingly and fraudulently makes a false 15 declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under pen16 alty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 17 28, United States Code, in or in relation to any bankruptcy 18 proceeding; or". 19 SEC. 5. The fourth paragraph of section 1546 of title 18, 20 United States Code, is amended by inserting immediately 21 after "under oath" the following: ", or as permitted under 22 penalty of perjury under section 1746 of title 28, United 23 States Code, knowingly subscribes as true,". 1 5 SEC. 6. Section 1623 (a) of title 18, United States Code, 2 is amended by inserting immediately after "under oath" 3 the following: “(or in any declaration, certificate, verifica4 tion, or statement under penalty of perjury as permitted 5 under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code)". 6 SEC. 7. Section 287 (b) of the Immigration and Na7 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357 (b)) is amended— 8 9 10 11 12 23 13 14 15 16 17 18 (1) by inserting immediately after "to whom such oath has been administered" the following: "(or who has executed an unsworn declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code)"; and (2) by inserting immediately after "give false evidence or swear" the following: "(or subscribe under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code)". SEC. 8. Section 5 of the Act entitled "An Act to pro19 vide for the licensing of marine radiotelegraph operators as 20 ship radio officers, and for other purposes", approved May 21 12, 1948 (46 U.S.C. 229e), is amended by inserting in the 22 third paragraph immediately after "oath or affirmation" the 23 following: "(or to the truth of any unsworn declaration, 24 certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury 6 1 as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States 2 Code)". 3 SEC. 9. Section 4445 of the Revised Statutes of the 4 United States (46 U.S.C. 231) is amended by inserting in 5 the third paragraph immediately after "oath or affirmation" 6 the following: "(or to the truth of any unsworn declara7 tion, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of 8 perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United 9 States Code)". 10 SEC. 10. Section 26 of the Act entitled "An Act making 11 appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the 12 Bureau of Indian Affairs, for fulfilling treaty stipulations 13 with various Indian tribes, and for other purposes, for the 14 fiscal year ending June 30, 1920", approved June 30, 1919 15 (25 U.S.C. 399), is amended by inserting in the tenth 16 paragraph immediately after "under oath" the following: 17 "or in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement 18 under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 19 of title 28, United States Code,". 94TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session UNSWORN DECLARATIONS REPORT No. 94-1616 SEPTEMBER 20, 1946.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. HUNGATE, from the Committee on the Judiciary, REPORT [To accompany H.R. 15531] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 15531) to permit the use of unsworn declarations under penalty of perjury as evidence in Federal proceedings, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. PURPOSE The purpose of this legislation is to permit the use in Federal proceedings of unsworn declarations given under penalty of perjury in lieu of affidavits. BACKGROUND An affidavit or other written document that requires verification by the person signing it currently must be subscribed to under oath. This requires that the person signing the affidavit or document must be taken before someone legally authorized to administer oaths (usually a notary public). A person who falsely states something in a document he subscribed to under oath is subject to the penalty imposed by law for perjury. The requirement that the person who signs an affidavit must appear before a notary and be sworn can be inconvenient. For example, it may be necessary for the document to be executed during other than normal business hours. Further, the document may have to be executed in another country for use in the United States. This generally will require, in addition to the document subscribed to under oath, additional certifications and documents to prove such things as the authority of the officer who administers the oath and the authenticity of his seal. The legislation provides an alternative to affidavits and sworn doenments when it is necessary to require verification of the truthfulness |