[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3346 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3346

   To amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to permit the sharing of 
  confidential supervisory information with foreign auditor oversight 
                                bodies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2009

 Mr. Frank of Massachusetts (for himself and Mr. Kanjorski) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to permit the sharing of 
  confidential supervisory information with foreign auditor oversight 
                                bodies.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO SHARE CERTAIN INFORMATION.

    (a) Definition.--Section 2(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 
U.S.C. 7201(a)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (16) the 
following:
            ``(17) Foreign auditor oversight authority.--The term 
        `foreign auditor oversight authority' means any governmental 
        body or other entity empowered by a foreign government to 
        conduct inspections of public accounting firms or otherwise to 
        administer or enforce laws related to the regulation of public 
        accounting firms.''.
    (b) Availability To Share Information.--Section 105(b)(5) of the 
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7215(b)(5)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Availability to foreign oversight 
                authorities.--When in the Board's discretion it is 
                necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Act or to 
                protect investors, and without the loss of its status 
                as confidential and privileged in the hands of the 
                Board, all information referred to in subparagraph (A) 
                that relates to a public accounting firm within the 
                inspection authority, or other regulatory or law 
                enforcement jurisdiction, of a foreign auditor 
                oversight authority may be made available to the 
                foreign auditor oversight authority if the foreign 
                auditor oversight authority provides such assurances of 
                confidentiality as the Board determines appropriate.''.
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 105(b)(5)(A) of the Sarbanes-
Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7215(b)(5)(A)) is amended by striking 
``subparagraph (B)'' and inserting ``subparagraphs (B) and (C)''.
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