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SEC. 3.
COMMISSION RULES AND ENFORCEMENT.
(a) REGULATORY ACTION.—The
Commission shall promulgate
such rules
and regulations, as may be necessary or
appropriate
in the public
interest or for the protection of investors,
and in
furtherance
of this Act.
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A
violation by any person of this Act,
any rule or
regulation of the Commission issued under this
Act, or any
rule of the Board shall be treated for all
purposes
in the same
manner as a violation of the Securities
Exchange
Act of 1934
(15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) or the rules and
regulations
issued
thereunder, consistent with the provisions of
this Act,
and any such
person shall be subject to the same penalties,
and to the
same extent, as for a violation of that Act or
such rules or
regulations.
(2) INVESTIGATIONS, INJUNCTIONS, AND
PROSECUTION OF
OFFENSES.—Section
21 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(15 U.S.C.
78u) is amended—
(A) in
subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘the rules of
the
Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board, of which
such
person is a
registered public accounting firm or a person
associated
with such a firm,’’ after ‘‘is a
participant,’’;
(B) in
subsection (d)(1), by inserting ‘‘the rules of
the
Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board, of which
such
person is a
registered public accounting firm or a person
associated
with such a firm,’’ after ‘‘is a
participant,’’;
(C) in
subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘the rules of
the
Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board, of which
such
person is a
registered public accounting firm or a person
associated
with such a firm,’’ after ‘‘is a
participant,’’; and
(D) in
subsection (f), by inserting ‘‘or the Public
Company
Accounting
Oversight Board’’ after ‘‘self-regulatory
organization’’ each place that term appears.
(3) CEASE-AND-DESIST
PROCEEDINGS.—Section 21C(c)(2) of
the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C.
78u–3(c)(2))
is amended by
inserting ‘‘registered public accounting firm
(as
defined in
section 2 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002),’’ after
‘‘government
securities dealer,’’.
(4)
ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL BANKING
AGENCIES.—Section
12(i) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C.
78l(i))
is amended
by—
(A) striking
‘‘sections 12,’’ each place it appears and
inserting
‘‘sections 10A(m), 12,’’; and
(B) striking
‘‘and 16,’’ each place it appears and
inserting
‘‘and 16 of this Act, and sections 302, 303,
304,
306, 401(b),
404, 406, and 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
of 2002,’’.
(c) EFFECT ON
COMMISSION AUTHORITY.—Nothing in
this Act
or the rules
of the Board shall be construed to impair or
limit—
(1) the
authority of the Commission to regulate the
accounting
profession, accounting firms, or persons
associated
with such
firms for purposes of enforcement of the
securities
laws;
(2) the
authority of the Commission to set standards
for
accounting or
auditing practices or auditor independence,
derived from
other provisions of the securities laws or the
rules or
regulations thereunder, for purposes of the
preparation
and issuance
of any audit report, or otherwise under
applicable
law; or
(3) the
ability of the Commission to take, on the
initiative
of the
Commission, legal, administrative, or
disciplinary action
against any
registered public accounting firm or any
associated
person
thereof.
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