Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 124.djvu/1899

 124 STAT. 1873 PUBLIC LAW 111–203—JULY 21, 2010 (i) in the second sentence, by inserting ‘‘any other provision of this section, or’’ after ‘‘Notwithstanding’’; and (ii) by inserting after the period at the end the following: ‘‘Nothing in this paragraph may be construed to afford a defense against any action or proceeding brought by the Commission to enforce the antifraud provisions of the securities laws.’’; and (B) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(3) INTERNAL CONTROLS OVER PROCESSES FOR DETERMINING CREDIT RATINGS.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each nationally recognized statis- tical rating organization shall establish, maintain, enforce, and document an effective internal control structure gov- erning the implementation of and adherence to policies, procedures, and methodologies for determining credit ratings, taking into consideration such factors as the Commission may prescribe, by rule. ‘‘(B) ATTESTATION REQUIREMENT.—The Commission shall prescribe rules requiring each nationally recognized statistical rating organization to submit to the Commission an annual internal controls report, which shall contain— ‘‘(i) a description of the responsibility of the management of the nationally recognized statistical rating organization in establishing and maintaining an effective internal control structure under subpara- graph (A); ‘‘(ii) an assessment of the effectiveness of the internal control structure of the nationally recognized statistical rating organization; and ‘‘(iii) the attestation of the chief executive officer, or equivalent individual, of the nationally recognized statistical rating organization.’’; (3) in subsection (d)— (A) by inserting after ‘‘or revoke the registration of any nationally recognized statistical rating organization’’ the following: ‘‘, or with respect to any person who is associated with, who is seeking to become associated with, or, at the time of the alleged misconduct, who was associ- ated or was seeking to become associated with a nationally recognized statistical rating organization, the Commission, by order, shall censure, place limitations on the activities or functions of such person, suspend for a period not exceeding 1 year, or bar such person from being associated with a nationally recognized statistical rating organiza- tion,’’; (B) by inserting ‘‘bar’’ after ‘‘placing of limitations, suspension,’’; (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘furnished to’’ and inserting ‘‘filed with’’; (D) in paragraph (2), by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and adjusting the clause margins accordingly; (E) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (5) as subparagraphs (A) through (E), respectively, and adjusting the subparagraph margins accordingly; Censure. Assessment. Deadline. Reports.