42 U.S.C. § 6383 — Accounting practices

Page 6823 TITLE 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE § 6383 1 See References in Text note below. (d) Report to Congressional committees If the verification examination was conducted at the request of any committee of the Congress, the Comptroller General shall report his find- ings as to the accuracy, reliability, or adequacy of the energy information which was the subject of such examination, or financial information in the case of a vertically integrated petroleum company, directly to such committee of the Congress and any such information obtained and such report shall be deemed the property of such committee and may not be disclosed except in accordance with the rules of the committee and the rules of the House of Representatives or the Senate and as permitted by law. (e) Disclosure of geological or geophysical infor- mation (1) Any information obtained by the Comp- troller General or any officer or employee of the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the exercise of responsibilities or authorities under this section which relates to geological or geophysical information, or any estimate or in- terpretation thereof, the disclosure of which would result in significant competitive dis- advantage or significant loss to the owner there- of shall not be disclosed except to a committee of Congress. Any such information so furnished to a committee of the Congress shall be deemed the property of such committee and may not be disclosed except in accordance with the rules of the committee and the rules of the House of Representatives or the Senate and as permitted by law. (2) Any person who knowingly discloses infor- mation in violation of paragraph (1) shall be subject to the penalties specified in section 754(a)(3)(B) and (4) 1 of title 15. (Pub. L. 94–163, title V, § 502, Dec. 22, 1975, 89 Stat. 957; Pub. L. 104–316, title I, § 122(p), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3838; Pub. L. 108–271, § 8(b), July 7, 2004, 118 Stat. 814.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT Section 754 of title 15, referred to in subsec. (e)(2), was omitted from the Code pursuant to section 760g of Title 15, Commerce and Trade, which provided for the expira- tion of the President’s authority under that section on Sept. 30, 1981. AMENDMENTS 2004—Subsec. (e)(1). Pub. L. 108–271 substituted ‘‘Gov- ernment Accountability Office’’ for ‘‘General Account- ing Office’’. 1996—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 104–316 struck out subsec. (f) which read as follows: ‘‘The Comptroller General shall prepare and submit to the Congress an annual report with respect to the exercise of its authorities under this part, which report shall specifically identify any deficiencies in energy information or financial infor- mation reviewed by the Comptroller General and in- clude a discussion of action taken by the person or company so examined, if any, to correct any such defi- ciencies.’’ § 6383. Accounting practices (a) Development by Securities and Exchange Commission; time of taking effect For purposes of developing a reliable energy data base related to the production of crude oil and natural gas, the Securities and Exchange Commission shall take such steps as may be necessary to assure the development and observ- ance of accounting practices to be followed in the preparation of accounts by persons engaged, in whole or in part, in the production of crude oil or natural gas in the United States. Such practices shall be developed not later than 24 months after December 22, 1975, and shall take effect with respect to the fiscal year of each such person which begins 3 months after the date on which such practices are prescribed or made effective under the authority of subsection (b)(2). (b) Consultation with Secretary, Government Ac- countability Office and Federal Energy Regu- latory Commission; rules; reliance on prac- tices developed by Financial Accounting Standards Board; opportunity to submit written comment In carrying out its responsibilities under sub- section (a), the Securities and Exchange Com- mission shall— (1) consult with the Secretary, the Govern- ment Accountability Office, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with respect to accounting practices to be developed under subsection (a), and (2) have authority to prescribe rules applica- ble to persons engaged in the production of crude oil or natural gas, or make effective by recognition, or by other appropriate means in- dicating a determination to rely on, account- ing practices developed by the Financial Ac- counting Standards Board, if the Securities and Exchange Commission is assured that such practice will be observed by persons en- gaged in the production of crude oil or natural gas to the same extent as would result if the Securities and Exchange Commission had pre- scribed such practices by rule. The Securities and Exchange Commission shall afford interested persons an opportunity to sub- mit written comments with respect to whether it should exercise its discretion to recognize or otherwise rely on such accounting practice in lieu of prescribing such practices by rule and may extend the 24-month period referred to in subsection (a) as it determines may be necessary to allow for a meaningful comment period with respect to such determination. (c) Requirements for accounting practices The Securities and Exchange Commission shall assure that accounting practices developed pursuant to this section, to the greatest extent practicable, permit the compilation, treating domestic and foreign operations as separate cat- egories, of an energy data base consisting of: (1) The separate calculation of capital, rev- enue, and operating cost information per- taining to— (A) prospecting, (B) acquisition, Page 6824 TITLE 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE § 6384 (C) exploration, (D) development, and (E) production, including geological and geophysical costs, carrying costs, unsuccessful exploratory drill- ing costs, intangible drilling and development costs on productive wells, the cost of unsuc- cessful development wells, and the cost of ac- quiring oil and gas reserves by means other than development. Any such calculation shall take into account disposition of capitalized costs, contractual arrangements involving special conveyance of rights and joint oper- ations, differences between book and tax in- come, and prices used in the transfer of prod- ucts or other assets from one person to any other person, including a person controlled by, controlling, or under common control with such person. (2) The full presentation of the financial in- formation of persons engaged in the produc- tion of crude oil or natural gas, including— (A) disclosure of reserves and operating ac- tivities, both domestic and foreign, to facili- tate evaluation of financial effort and result; and (B) classification of financial information by function to facilitate correlation with re- serve and operating statistics, both domestic and foreign. (3) Such other information, projections, and relationships of collected data as shall be nec- essary to facilitate the compilation of such data base. (Pub. L. 94–163, title V, § 503, Dec. 22, 1975, 89 Stat. 958; Pub. L. 95–91, title III, § 301, title IV, § 402, title VII, §§ 703, 707, Aug. 4, 1977, 91 Stat. 577, 583, 606, 607; Pub. L. 105–388, § 5(a)(15), Nov. 13, 1998, 112 Stat. 3479; Pub. L. 108–271, § 8(b), July 7, 2004, 118 Stat. 814.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2004—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 108–271 substituted ‘‘Gov- ernment Accountability Office’’ for ‘‘General Account- ing Office’’. 1998—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 105–388, § 5(a)(15)(A), sub- stituted ‘‘with respect to’’ for ‘‘with repect to’’ in con- cluding provisions. Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 105–388, § 5(a)(15)(B), substituted ‘‘, controlling,’’ for ‘‘controlling’’ in concluding provi- sions. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS ‘‘Secretary’’ and ‘‘Federal Energy Regulatory Com- mission’’ substituted for ‘‘Federal Energy Administra- tion’’ and ‘‘Federal Power Commission’’, respectively, in subsec. (b)(1) pursuant to sections 301, 402, 703, and 707 of Pub. L. 95–91, which are classified to sections 7151, 7172, 7293, and 7297 of this title and which termi- nated the Federal Energy Administration and trans- ferred its functions (with certain exceptions) to the Secretary of Energy and terminated the Federal Power Commission and transferred its functions to the Fed- eral Energy Regulatory Commission and the Secretary of Energy. § 6384. Enforcement (a) Civil penalties Any person who violates any general or spe- cial order of the Comptroller General issued under section 6382(a)(1)(B) of this title may be assessed a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each violation. Each day of failure to comply with such an order shall be deemed a separate violation. Such penalty shall be assessed by the Comptroller General and collected in a civil ac- tion brought by the Comptroller General through any attorney employed by the Govern- ment Accountability Office or any other attor- ney designated by the Comptroller General, or, upon request of the Comptroller General, the Attorney General. A person shall not be liable with respect to any period during which the ef- fectiveness of the order with respect to such per- son was stayed. (b) Jurisdiction; process Any action to enjoin or set aside an order issued under section 6382(a)(1)(B) of this title may be brought only before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Any action to collect a civil penalty for viola- tion of any general or special order may be brought only in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In any action brought under subsection (a) to collect a civil penalty, process may be served in any judicial district of the United States. (c) Securing compliance with subpena Upon petition by the Comptroller General through any attorney employed by the Govern- ment Accountability Office or designated by the Comptroller General, or, upon request of the Comptroller General, the Attorney General, any United States district court within the jurisdic- tion of which any inquiry under this part is car- ried on may, in the case of refusal to obey a sub- pena of the Comptroller General issued under this part, issue an order requiring compliance therewith; and any failure to obey the order of the court may be treated by the court as a con- tempt thereof. (Pub. L. 94–163, title V, § 504, Dec. 22, 1975, 89 Stat. 959; Pub. L. 108–271, § 8(b), July 7, 2004, 118 Stat. 814.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2004—Subsecs. (a), (c). Pub. L. 108–271 substituted ‘‘Government Accountability Office’’ for ‘‘General Ac- counting Office’’. § 6385. Petroleum product information The President or his delegate shall, pursuant to authority otherwise available to the Presi- dent or his delegate under any other provision of law, collect information on the pricing, supply, and distribution of petroleum products by prod- uct category at the wholesale and retail levels, on a State-by-State basis, which was collected as of September 1, 1981, by the Energy Informa- tion Administration. (Pub. L. 94–163, title V, § 507, as added Pub. L. 97–229, § 5(a), Aug. 3, 1982, 96 Stat. 252.)