TITLE I - PUBLIC COMPANY ACCOUNTING OVERSIGHT BOARD
SEC. 106. FOREIGN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRMS.
(a) APPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN FOREIGN FIRMS. -
(1) IN GENERAL. - Any foreign public accounting firm that
prepares or furnishes an audit report with respect to any issuer, shall be subject
to this Act and the rules of the Board and the Commission issued under this
Act, in the same manner and to the same extent as a public accounting firm that
is organized and operates under the laws of the United States or any State,
except that registration pursuant to section 102 shall not by itself provide
a basis for subjecting such a foreign public accounting firm to the jurisdiction
of the Federal or State courts, other than with respect to controversies between
such firms and the Board.
(2) BOARD AUTHORITY. - The Board may, by rule, determine that
a foreign public accounting firm (or a class of such firms) that does not issue
audit reports nonetheless plays such a substantial role in the preparation and
furnishing of such reports for particular issuers, that it is necessary or appropriate,
in light of the purposes of this Act and in the public interest or for the protection
of investors, that such firm (or class of firms) should be treated as a public
accounting firm (or firms) for purposes of registration under, and oversight
by the Board in accordance with, this title.
(b) PRODUCTION OF AUDIT WORKPAPERS. -
(1) CONSENT BY FOREIGN FIRMS. - If a foreign public accounting
firm issues an opinion or otherwise performs material services upon which a
registered public accounting firm relies in issuing all or part of any audit
report or any opinion contained in an audit report, that foreign public accounting
firm shall be deemed to have consented -
(A) to produce its audit workpapers for the Board or the Commission
in connection with any investigation by either body with respect to that audit
report; and
(B) to be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of the
United States for purposes of enforcement of any request for production of such
workpapers.
(2) CONSENT BY DOMESTIC FIRMS. - A registered public accounting
firm that relies upon the opinion of a foreign public accounting firm, as described
in paragraph (1), shall be deemed -
(A) to have consented to supplying the audit workpapers of
that foreign public accounting firm in response to a request for production
by the Board or the Commission; and
(B) to have secured the agreement of that foreign public accounting
firm to such production, as a condition of its reliance on the opinion of that
foreign public accounting firm.
(c) EXEMPTION AUTHORITY. - The Commission, and the Board, subject to the approval
of the Commission, may, by rule, regulation, or order, and as the Commission
(or Board) determines necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for
the protection of investors, either unconditionally or upon specified terms
and conditions exempt any foreign public accounting firm, or any class of such
firms, from any provision of this Act or the rules of the Board or the Commission
issued under this Act.
(d) DEFINITION. - In this section, the term ‘‘foreign public accounting
firm’’ means a public accounting firm that is organized and operates
under the laws of a foreign government or political subdivision thereof.
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