SEC Issues Amendments, Seeks Public Comment on Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted interim final amendments to implement congressionally mandated submission and disclosure requirements of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCA Act).

The interim final amendments will apply to registrants that the Commission identifies as having filed an annual report on Forms 10-K, 20-F, 40-F, or N-CSR with an audit report issued by a registered public accounting firm that is located in a foreign jurisdiction and that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has determined it is unable to inspect or investigate completely because of a position taken by an authority in that jurisdiction. Before any registrant will have to comply with the interim final amendments, the Commission must implement a process for identifying such a registrant. Thus, the Commission is seeking public comment on this identification process.

Consistent with the HFCA Act, the amendments will require any such identified registrant to submit documentation to the Commission establishing that the registrant is not owned or controlled by a governmental entity in that foreign jurisdiction, and will also require disclosure in a foreign issuer’s annual report regarding the audit arrangements of, and governmental influence on, such a registrant. The Commission is seeking public comment on these submission and disclosure requirements. The HFCA Act requires the Commission to issue rules within 90 days of the date of enactment to establish the manner and form in which registrants must comply with the documentation submission requirement. The Commission is issuing the interim final amendments to comply with this 90-day deadline.

The Commission staff is actively assessing how best to implement other requirements of the HFCA Act not subject to the 90-day deadline, including the identification process and the trading prohibition requirements.

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Mark Astarita is a nationally recognized securities attorney, who represents investors, financial professionals and firms in securities litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters, including SEC and FINRA investigations and enforcement proceedings.

He is a partner in the national securities law firm Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC, and the founder of The Securities Law Home Page - SECLaw.com, which was one of the first legal topic sites on the Internet. It went online in 1995 and is updated daily with news, commentary and securities law related links.

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