The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has proposed a new rule provide a framework for its determinations under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCAA.

The HFCAA calls for the Board to determine whether it is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered firms located in a foreign jurisdiction because of a position taken by an authority in that jurisdiction. The HFCAA, among other things, also mandates that after the Board makes such a determination, the Commission shall require covered issuers that retain firms subject to the Board’s determination to make certain disclosures in their annual reports and, eventually, if certain conditions persist, shall prohibit trading in those issuers’ securities.

The proposed rule would establish:

• the manner of the Board’s determinations;
• the factors the Board will evaluate and the documents and information the Board will consider when assessing whether a determination is warranted;
• the form, public availability, effective date, and duration of such determinations; and
• the process by which the Board can modify or vacate those determinations.