Aircraft Ownership Transparency Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 393 To require the disclosure of beneficial ownership by a foreign person of aircraft registration, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 9, 2019 Mr. LYNCH (for himself, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To require the disclosure of beneficial ownership by a foreign person of aircraft registration, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aircraft Ownership 4 Transparency Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION OF AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Before approving a certificate of 7 registration issued under section 44103 of title 49, United 8 States Code, with a covered entity, the Administrator of 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:07 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H393.IH H393 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 393 IH the Federal Aviation Administration shall require the cov- 1 ered entity to— 2 (1) identify each beneficial owner of the covered 3 entity by— 4 (A) name; 5 (B) current residential or business street 6 address; 7 (C) a unique identifying number from a 8 nonexpired passport issued by the United 9 States or a nonexpired drivers license issued by 10 a State or if neither is available, a legible and 11 credible copy of the pages of a nonexpired pass- 12 port issued by the government of a foreign 13 country bearing a photograph, date of birth, 14 and unique identifying information for the per- 15 son; 16 (D) nationality; and 17 (E) the make, model, and serial number of 18 the aircraft to be registered; 19 (2) in the case of a covered entity that is owned 20 or controlled by more than one entity, identify how 21 each entity relates to every other entity, including 22 the extent to which each entity holds an ownership 23 interest in or exercises control over another entity, 24 and the relationship of each such entity with the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:07 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H393.IH H393 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 393 IH beneficial owners who are natural persons; and in 1 addition to each beneficial owner, identify each trust 2 grantor, trustee, trust protector, and beneficiary 3 owner of the covered entity that is a foreign person; 4 (3) in the case of a trust or association, identify 5 the chain of control that includes the owner, trustee, 6 and beneficiary; and 7 (4) disclose to the Administrator any beneficial 8 owner of the covered entity that is a foreign person. 9 (b) TIMING.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall re- 11 quire a covered entity to provide the information de- 12 scribed in subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) when sub- 13 mitting an application for aircraft certification. 14 (2) UPDATES.—The Administrator shall require 15 a covered entity to update a submission of the infor- 16 mation described in subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) 17 not later than 60 days after the date of any change 18 in— 19 (A) the list of beneficial owners of the cov- 20 ered entity; or 21 (B) the information required to be pro- 22 vided relating to each such beneficial owner. 23 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi- 24 nitions apply: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:07 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H393.IH H393 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 393 IH (1) BENEFICIAL OWNER.— 1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 2 subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘beneficial owner’’ 3 means, with respect to a covered entity, each 4 natural person who, directly or indirectly— 5 (i) exercises control over the covered 6 entity through ownership interests, voting 7 rights, agreements, or otherwise; or 8 (ii) has an interest in or receives sub- 9 stantial economic benefits from the assets 10 of the covered entity. 11 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—The term ‘‘beneficial 12 owner’’ does not include, with respect to a cov- 13 ered entity— 14 (i) a minor child; 15 (ii) a person acting as a trustee, 16 nominee, intermediary, custodian, or agent 17 on behalf of another person; 18 (iii) a person acting solely as an em- 19 ployee of the covered entity and whose con- 20 trol over or economic benefits from the 21 covered entity derives solely from the em- 22 ployment status of the person; 23 (iv) a person whose only interest in 24 the covered entity is through a right of in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:07 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H393.IH H393 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 393 IH heritance, unless the person also meets the 1 requirements of subparagraph (A); or 2 (v) a creditor of the covered entity, 3 unless the creditor also meets the require- 4 ments of subparagraph (A). 5 (C) ANTI-ABUSE RULE.—The exceptions 6 under subparagraph (B) shall not apply if used 7 for the purpose of evading, circumventing, or 8 abusing the requirements of this section. 9 (2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en- 10 tity’’ means a person, trust, association, copartner- 11 ship, corporation, or other public or private entity. 12 (3) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per- 13 son’’ means an individual who is not a United States 14 person or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 15 residence into the United States. 16 (4) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 17 ‘‘United States person’’ means a natural person who 18 is a citizen of the United States or who owes perma- 19 nent allegiance to the United States. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:07 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H393.IH H393 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS