prescribe: Provided, however, That nothing in this title shall be construed to require, or to authorize the Commission to require, the revealing of trade secrets or processes in any application, declaration, report, or document filed with the Commission under this title.

(b) Any person filing such application, declaration, report, or document may make written objection to the public disclosure of information contained therein, stating the grounds for such objection, and the Commission is authorized to hear objections in any such case where it finds it advisable.

(c) It shall be unlawful for any member, officer, or employee of the Commission to disclose to any person other than a member, officer, or employee of the Commission, or to use for personal benefit, any information contained in any application, declaration, report, or document filed with the Commission which is not made available to the public pursuant to this section.

ANNUAL REPORTS OF COMMISSION

SEC. 23. The Commission shall submit annually a report to the Congress covering the work of the Commission for the preceding year and including such information, data, and recommendations for further legislation in connection with the matters covered by this title as it may find advisable.

COURT REVIEW OF ORDERS

SEC. 24. (a) Any person or party aggrieved by an order issued by the Commission under this title may obtain a review of such order in the court of appeals of the United States within any circuit wherein such person resides or has his principal place of business, or in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, by filing in such court, within sixty days after the entry of such order, a written petition praying that the order of the Commission be modified or set aside in whole or in part. A copy of such petition shall be forthwith transmitted by the clerk of the court to any member of the Commission, or any officer thereof designated by the Commission for that purpose, and thereupon the Commission shall file in the court the record upon which the order complained of was entered, as provided in section 2112 of title 28, United States Code. Upon the filing of such petition such court shall have jurisdiction, which upon the filing of the record shall be exclusive, to affirm, modify, or set aside such order, in whole or in part. No objection to the order of the Commission shall be considered by the court unless such objection shall have been urged before the Commission or unless there were reasonable grounds for failure so to do. The findings of the Commissions as to the facts, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive. If application is made to the court for leave to adduce. additional evidence, and it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that such additional evidence is material and that there were reasonable grounds for failure to adduce such evidence in the proceeding before the Commission, the court may order such additional evidence to be taken before the Commission and to be adduced upon the hearing in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as to the court may

by reason of the additional evidence so taken, and it shall file with the court such modified or new findings, which, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive, and its recommendation, if any, for the modification or setting aside of the original order. The judg ment and decree of the court affirming, modifying, or setting aside, in whole or in part, any such order of the Commission shall be final, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the United States upon certiorari or certification as provided in sections 239 and 240 of the Judicial Code, as amended (U.S.C., title 28, secs. 346 and 347).

(b) The commencement of proceedings under subsection (a) shall not, unless specifically ordered by the court, operate as a stay of the Commission's order.

JURISDICTION OF OFFENSES AND SUITS

SEC. 25. The District Courts of the United States, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and the United States courts of any Territory or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States shall have jurisdiction of violations of this title or the rules, regulations, or orders thereunder, and, concurrently with State and Territorial courts, of all suits in equity and actions at law brought to enforce any liability or duty created by, or to enjoin any violation of, this title or the rules, regulations, or orders thereunder. Any criminal proceeding may be brought in the district wherein any act or transaction constituting the violation occurred. Any suit or action. to enforce any liability or duty created by, or to enjoin any violation of, this title or rules, regulations, or orders thereunder, may be brought in any such district or in the district wherein the defendant is an inhabitant or transacts business, and process in such cases may be served in any district of which the defendant is an inhabitant or transacts business or wherever the defendant may be found. Judgments and decrees so rendered shall be subject to review as provided in sections 128 and 240 of the Judicial Code, as amended (U.S.C., title 28, secs. 225 and 347), and section 7, as amended, of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a court of appeals for the District of Columbia", approved February 9, 1893 (D.C. Code, title 18, sec. 26). No costs shall be assessed for or against the Commission in any proceeding under this title brought by or against the Commission in any court.

VALIDITY OF CONTRACTS

SEC. 26. (a) Any condition, stipulation, or provision binding any person to waive compliance with any provision of this title or with any rule, regulation, or order thereunder shall be void.

(b) Every contract made in violation of any provision of this title or of any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, and every contract heretofore or hereafter made, the performance of which involves the violation of, or the continuance of any relationship or practice in violation of, any provision of this title, or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, shall be void (1) as regards the rights of any person who, in violation of any such provision, rule, regulation, or order, shall have made or engaged in the performance of any such contract, and (2) as regards the rights of any person who, not being a party to such contract, shall have acquired any right thereunder with

formance of such contract was in violation of any such provision, rule, regulation, or order.

(c) Nothing in this title shall be construed (1) to affect the validity of any loan or extension of credit (or any extension or renewal thereof) made or of any lien created prior or subsequent to the enactment of this title, unless at the time of the making of such loan or extension of credit (or extension or renewal thereof) or the creating of such lien, the person making such loan or extension of credit (or extension or renewal thereof) or acquiring such lien shall have actual knowledge of facts by reason of which the making of such loan or extension of credit (or extension or renewal thereof) or the acquisition of such lien as a violation of the provisions of this title or any rule or regulation thereunder, or (2) to afford a defense to the collection of any debt or obligation or the enforcement of any lien by any person who shall have acquired such debt, obligation, or lien in good faith for value and without actual knowledge of the violation of any provision of this title or any rule or regulation thereunder affecting the legality of such debt, obligation, or lien.

LIABILITY OF CONTROLLING PERSONS; PREVENTING COMPLIANCE WITH

TITLE

SEC. 27. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to cause to be done any act or thing through or by means of any other person which it would be unlawful for such person to do under the provisions of this title or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person without just cause to hinder, delay, or obstruct the making, filing, or keeping of any information, document, report, record, or account required to be made, filed, or kept under any provision of this title or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder.

UNLAWFUL REPRESENTATIONS

SEC. 28. It shall be unlawful for any person in issuing, selling, or offering for sale any security of a registered holding company or subsidiary company thereof, to represent or imply in any manner whatsothat such security has been guaranteed, sponsored, or recommended for investment by the United States or any agency or officer thereof.

ever

PENALTIES

SEC. 29. Any person who willfully violates any provision of this title or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder (other than an order of the Commission under subsection (b), (d), (e), or (f) of section 11), or any person who willfully makes any statement or entry in an application, report, document, account, or record filed or kept or required to be filed or kept under the provisions of this title or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, knowing such statement or entry to be false or misleading in any material respect, or any person who willfully destroys (except after such time as may be prescribed under any rules or regulations under

any account, correspondence, memorandum, book, paper, or other record kept or required to be kept under the provisions of this title or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, shall upon conviction be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both, except that in the case of a violation of a provision of subsection (a) or (b) of section 4 by a holding company which is not an individual, the fine imposed upon such holding company shall be a fine not exceeding $200,000; but no person shall be convicted under this section for the violation of any rule, regulation, or order if he proves that he had no knowledge of such rule, regulation, or order.

STUDY OF PUBLIC-UTILITY AND INVESTMENT COMPANIES

SEC. 30. The Commission is authorized and directed to make studies and investigations of public-utility companies, the territories served or which can be served by public-utility companies, and the manner in which the same are or can be served, to determine the sizes, types, and locations of public-utility companies which do or can operate most economically and efficiently in the public interest, in the interest of investors and consumers, and in furtherance of a wider and more economical use of gas and electric energy; upon the basis of such investigations and studies the Commission shall make public from time to time its recommendations as to the type and size of geographically and economically integrated public-utility systems which, having regard for the nature and character of the locality served, can best promote and harmonize the interests of the public, the investor, and the consumer. The Commission is authorized and directed to make a study of the functions and activities of investment trusts and investment companies, the corporate structures, and investment policies of such trusts and companies, the influence exerted by such trusts and companies upon companies in which they are interested, and the influence exerted by interests affiliated with the management of such trusts and companies upon their investment policies, and to report the results of its study and its recommendations to the Congress on or before January 4, 1937.

EMPLOYEES OF THE COMMISSION

SEC. 31. For the purposes of this title, the Commission may select, employ, and fix the compensation of such attorneys, examiners, and other experts as shall be necessary for the transaction of the business of the Commission in respect of this title without regard to the provisions of other laws applicable to the employment and compensation of officers or employees of the United States; and the Commission may, subject to the civil-service laws, appoint such other officers and employees as are necessary in the execution of the functions of the Commission and fix their salaries in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended.

SEPARABILITY OF PROVISIONS

SEC. 32. If any provision of this title or the application of such provision to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the

or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid shall not be affected thereby.

SHORT TITLE

SEC. 33. This title may be cited as the "Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935".

TITLE II-AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL WATER

POWER ACT

[Title II of the Public Utility Act of 1935 amended the Federal Water Power Act, and added a new Part II to that Act regulating electric utility companies engaged in the interstate transmission of electric energy. Section 318 of that Act, relating to the applicability of that Act and the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 to the same person, is set forth below.]

SEC. 318. If, with respect to the issue, sale, or guaranty of a security, or assumption of obligation or liability in respect of a security, the method of keeping accounts, the filing of reports, or the acquisition or disposition of any security, capital assets, facilities, or any other subject matter, any person is subject both to a requirement of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or of a rule, regulation, or order thereunder and to a requirement of this Act or of a rule, regulation, or order thereunder, the requirement of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 shall apply to such person, and such person shall not be subject to the requirement of this Act, or of any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, with respect to the same subject matter, unless the Securities and Exchange Commission has exempted such person from such requirement of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, in which case the requirements of this Act shall apply to such person.