Exemptions to foreign lobbying transparency law that businesses and attorneys rely on to keep their advocacy for foreign interests under wraps would be revised under proposed rule changes the Justice Department unveiled Friday night.

The proposed updates to the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act are years in the making and have been closely watched by corporate law firms eager to see how the potential narrowing of critical regulatory carveouts may impact their clients -- and their own attorneys.

The proposal called for new restrictions on when companies, nonprofits, and individuals may depend on the commercial exemption, which is commonly used to preclude ...