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[(3) when the obligor is not obligated to furnish to the trustee and to such investors adequate current information as to its financial condition and the performance of its obligations with respect to such securities; or when the communication of such information to such investors, and concerted action by such investors in connection with the enforcement of the obligations of the obligor and the trustee, is impeded by the suppression and monopolization by the obligor, underwriters or others of information as to the names and addresses of the holders of such securities.

[(b) When abuses of the character above enumerated become persistent and widespread, the public offering of such securities, unless regulated, is injurious to the capital markets, to investors, and to the general public, and is tantamount to a fraud on such investors and the general public; and it is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act, in accordance with which policy all the provisions of this Act shall be interpreted, to meet the problems and eliminate the evils, as enumerated in this section, connected with the public offering of such securities by the use of means and instruments of transportation and communication in interstate commerce and of the mails.]

(1) When the obligor fails to provide a trustee to protect and enforce the rights and to represent the interests of such investors, notwithstanding the fact that (A) individual action by such investors for the purpose of protecting and enforcing their rights is rendered impracticable by reason of the disproportionate expense of taking such action, and (B) concerted action by such investors in their common interest through representatives of their own selection is impeded by reason of the wide dispersion of such investors through many States and the fact that information as to the names and addresses of such investors is controlled by the obligor and underwriters;

(2) When the trustee designated does not have adequate rights and powers, or adequate duties and responsibilities, in connection with matters relating to the protection and enforcement of the rights of such investors; when, notwithstanding the obstacles to concerted action by such investors, and the general and reasonable assumption by such investors that the trustee is under an affirmative duty to take action for the protection and enforcement of their rights, trust indentures generally provide that the trustee shall be under no duty to take any such action, even in the event of default, unless notice of default, demand for action, and indemnity, from the holders of substantial percentages of the outstanding securities, and generally relieve the trustee from liability even for its own negligent action or failure to act;

(3) When the trustee designated does not have resources commensurate with its responsibilities, or has any relationship to or connection with the obligor or any underwriter of any securities of the obligor, or holds, beneficially or otherwise, any interest in the obligor or any such underwriter, which relationship, connection or interest involves a material conflict, actual or potential, with the interests of such investors;

(4) When the obligor is not obligated to furnish to the trustee and to such investors adequate current information as to its financial condition and the performance of its obligations with respect to such securities; or when the communication of such information to such investors is impeded by the fact that information as to the names and addresses of the holders of such securities is controlled by the obligor and underwriters; or

(5) When, by reason of their lack of understanding of the situation and the fact that such securities are publicly offered, such investors are unable to procure the insertion of adequate protective provisions in trust indentures, which are commonly prepared by the obligor or underwriters.

(b) Abuses of the character above enumerated have been so widespread and have occurred in such number of instances that the public offering of such securities, unless regulated, is injurious to the capital markets, to investors, and to the general public; and it is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act, in accordance with which policy all the provisions of this Act shall be interpreted, to meet the problems and eliminate the evils, as enumerated in this section, connected with the public offering of such securities by the use of means and instruments of transportation and communication in interstate commerce and of the mails.

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 2. When used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires

(1) Any term defined in section 2 of the Securities Act of 1933, as heretofore amended, and not otherwise defined in this section, shall have the meaning provided in such section 2.

(2) The term "sale" shall include all transactions included in such term as provided in paragraph (3) of section 2 of the Securities Act of 1933, as heretofore amended, except that a sale of a certificate of interest or participation shall be deemed a sale of the security or securities in which such certificate evidences an interest or participation if and only if such certificate gives the holder thereof the right to convert the same, either immediately or on or after some future date, into such security or securities.

(3) The term "underwriter" means any person who has purchased from an issuer with a view to, or sells for an issuer in connection with, the distribution of any security, or participates or has a direct or indirect participation in any such undertaking or participates or has a participation in the direct or indirect underwriting of any such undertaking; but such term shall not include a person whose interest is limited to a commission from an underwriter or dealer not in excess of the usual and customary distributors' or sellers' commission.

(4) The term "director” means any director of a corporation or any individual performing similar functions with respect to any person whether incorporated or unincorporated.

(5) The term "executive officer" means the president, every vice president, the cashier, secretary, treasurer, and trust officer and any person customarily performing [the] similar functions [of any such office].

(6) The term "indenture" means any mortgage, deed of trust, trust or other indenture, or similar instrument or agreement (including any supplement or amendment to any of the foregoing), under which securities are outstanding or are to be issued, whether or not any property, real or personal, is or is to be pledged, mortgaged, assigned or conveyed thereunder.

(7) The term "application" or "application for qualification" means the application provided for in section 5, and includes any amendment thereto and any report, document or memorandum accompanying such application or incorporated therein by reference.

(8) The term "indenture to be qualified" means the indenture in respect of which a particular application is filed.

(9) The term "indenture trustee" means each trustee under the indenture to be qualified, and each successor trustee.

(10) The term "indenture security" means any security issued or to be issued under the indenture to be qualified.

[(11) The term "security holder" means each holder or owner, for the time being, of any such security.]

[(12)](11) The term "obligor" means every person who is liable upon any such security, and, if such security is a certificate of interest or participation, includes every person who is liable upon the security or securities in which such certificate evidences an interest or participation; but such term shall not include the trustee under an indenture under which equipment trust certificates or like securities are outstanding.

[(13)](12) The term "paying agent", when used with respect to any such security, means any person authorized by an obligor thereon to pay the principal of or interest on such security on behalf of such obligor.

[(14)](13) The term "State" means any State of the United States.

(15)(14) The term "Commission" means the Securities and Exchange Commission.

[(16)](15) The term "voting security" means a security presently entitling the holder or owner thereof to vote for the election of directors.

[(17)](16) The terms "Securities Act of 1933", "Securities Exchange Act of 1934" and "Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935" shall be deemed to refer, respectively, to such Acts, as heretofore or hereafter amended.

EXEMPTED SECURITIES AND TRANSACTIONS

SEC. 3. (a) The provisions of [section 4] this Act shall not apply to any of the following [classes of] securities:

(1) Any security other than a note, bond, debenture or evidence of indebtedness, whether or not secured, [or] and other than a certificate of interest or participation in, or temporary certificate for, or guarantee of, any of the foregoing.

(2) Any certificate of interest or participation in two or more securities having substantially different rights and privileges, or a temporary certificate for, or guarantee of, any such certificate.

(3) Any security which, prior to January 3, 1938, has been sold or disposed of by the issuer or bona fide offered to the public, but this exemption shall not apply to any new offering of any such security by an issuer or underwriter on or after such date.

(4) Any security exempted from the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, by paragraph 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 11 of subsection 3 (a) of such Act, as heretofore amended.

(5) Any security issued under a mortgage indenture as to which a contract of insurance under the National Housing Act is in effect.

(6) Any guarantee of any security exempted from the provisions of [section 4] this Act by this subsection.

(b) The provisions of section 4 shall not apply to any of the transactions exempted, by section 4 of the Securities Act of 1933, as heretofore amended, from the provisions of section 5 of such Act. For the purposes of this subsection the term "underwriter", as used in section 4 of such Act, shall have the meaning provided in paragraph (3) of section 2 of this Act.

(c) The Commission may from time to time by rules and regulations, and subject to such terms and conditions as may be prescribed therein, add any class of securities to the securities exempted in subsection (a) of this section, if it deems that the application of this Act with respect to such securities is not necessary in the public interest and for the protection of investors by reason of the small amount involved and the small amount of securities outstanding and thereafter issuable under the same indenture, or the limited character of the public offering; but no issue of securities shall be exempted under this subsection where the aggregate amount of which such issue is offered to the public exceeds $250,000.

(d) The Commission may, on application by the issuer and after opportunity for hearing thereon, by order exempt from any one or more provisions of this Act any security issued or proposed to be issued under an indenture under which, at the time of such issuance, securities referred to in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of this section are outstanding, if and to the extent that it finds that compliance with such provision or provisions, through the execution of a supplemental indenture or otherwise

(1) would require by reason of the provisions of the indenture, or of any other indenture or agreement made prior to the effective date of this Act, or by reason of the provisions of any applicable law, the consent of the holders of securities outstanding thereunder, or

(2) would impose an undue burden on the issuer, having due regard to the public interest and the interests of investors.

PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND THE MAILS

SEC. 4. (a) Subject to the provisions of section 3, unless a security has been or is to be issued under an indenture as to which an application for qualification is effective, it shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly—

(1) to make use of any means or instruments of transportation or communication in interstate commerce or of the mails to sell such security through the use or medium of any prospectus or otherwise; or

(2) to carry or cause to be carried through the mails or in interstate commerce, by any means or instruments of transportation, any such security for the purpose of sale or for delivery after sale.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, on and after January 3, 1938, no registration statement relating to a security which is subject to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall become effective unless such security has been or is to be issued under an indenture as to which an application for qualification is effective.

APPLICATIONS FOR QUALIFICATION AND THE TAKING EFFECT THEREOF

SEC. 5. (a) An application for qualification of the indenture under which a security has been or is to be issued shall be filed with the Commission by the issuer of such security. Such application shall be in such form, and shall be signed in such manner, as the Commission may by rules and regulations prescribe as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors. Such application shall include such of the information and documents as would be required to be filed in order to register such security under the Securities Act of 1933, and such additional information, in such form and detail, and such documents, regarding the applicant, the obligors, the trustees, the paying agents and the underwriters (as such term is defined in subsection (b) of section 7), including prospective obligors, trustees and underwriters, and the direct or indirect relationships between any of the foregoing, as the Commission may by rules and regulations prescribe as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors. The information and documents contained in or filed with any

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application shall be made available to the public under such regulations as the Commission may prescribe, and copies thereof, photostatic or otherwise, shall be furnished to every applicant therefor at such reasonable charge as the Commission may prescribe.

(b) The filing with the Commission of an application, or of an amendment to an application, shall be deemed to have taken place upon the receipt thereof by the Commission, but unless a registration statement, under the Securities Act of 1933, covering securities issued or to be issued under the indenture to be qualified has been filed prior to or simultaneously with the application, the filing of such application shall not be deemed to have taken place unless it is accompanied or preceded by payment to the Commission of a filing fee in the amount of $100, such payment to be made in cash or by United States postal money order or certified or bank check, or in such other medium of payment as the Commission may authorize by rule and regulation. If a registration statement covering securities issued or to be issued under such indenture is subsequently filed, the amount of the fee so paid shall be credited against the fee required to be paid at the time of filing such registration statement, and any excess shall be refunded to the applicant. If an amendment to an application is filed prior to the effective date of such application, the application shall be deemed to have been filed when such amendment was filed; except that an amendment filed with the consent of the Commission, prior to the effective date of the application, or filed pursuant to an order of the Commission, shall be treated as a part of the application. Amendments after the effective date of an application may be made upon such terms and conditions as the Commission may prescribe.

(c) The effective date of an application shall be the twentieth day after the filing thereof, unless the Commission prior to such time shall have issued an order to the issuer to show cause why such application should become effective. If an order to show cause under this subsection has been issued, such application shall become effective within such reasonable period of time after an opportunity for hearing upon such order as the Commission shall fix by rules and regulations unless the Commission prior to the expiration of such period shall have issued an order pursuant to section 6 refusing to permit such application to become effective. Whenever the Commission shall issue an order to show cause, it shall cause the same to be served upon the issuer in such manner as the Commission may by rules and regulations prescribe, and accord an opportunity for hearing thereon (at a time fixed by the Commission) within 10 days after such service.

(d) Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act the making, amendment or rescission of a rule, regulation or order [relating to the contents of any indenture or indentures or the form or interpretation of any provision or provisions thereof] under the provisions of this Act shall not affect the form or interpretation of any indenture as to which qualification became effective prior to the making, amendment or rescission of such rule, regulation or order, or of any provision of any such indenture.

(e) The Commission is hereby empowered to make an investigation in any case in order to determine whether a refusal order should issue under section 6. If the issuer, or any obligor, underwriter or trustee, including prospective obligors, underwriters and trustees, shall fail to cooperate, or shall obstruct or refuse to permit the making of such investigation, such conduct shall be proper ground for the issuance of a refusal order.

REFUSAL ORDERS

SEC. 6. The Commission shall issue an order refusing to permit an application filed pursuant to section 5 to become effective if it finds that

(1) such application does not conform to the requirements of this Act and the rules and regulations thereunder;

(2) the application includes any untrue statement of a material fact or omits to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading;

(3) any person designated as trustee [or trustees] under the indenture is not [qualified] eligible to act as such under [subsections (a) and (b)] subsection (a) of section 7 or has any conflicting interest as defined in subsection (b) of section 7;

(4) the indenture does not conform to the requirements of section 7 and the rules and regulations thereunder; or

(5) the indenture or any security to be issued thereunder contains any provision which limits, qualifies or conflicts with a provision required to be contained in the indenture by this Act or the rules and regulations thereunder; or any provision the inclusion of which is prohibited by this Act or

the rules and regulations thereunder; or any provision which is misleading or deceptive; or the elimination of which is necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors or to prevent the circumvention or evasion of this Act.

If and when the Commission deems that the objections on which such order was based have been met, the Commission shall enter an order rescinding such refusal crder, and the application shall become effective at the date fixed pursuant to subsection (c) of section 5 or upon the date of such rescission, whichever shall be the later.

CONTENTS OF INDENTURE

Persons Eligible for Appointment as Trustee

SEC. 7. (a) (1) The indenture to be qualified shall require that there shall at all times be one or more trustees thereunder, at least one of whom shall at all times be an institution incorporated and doing business under the laws of the United States or of any State or Territory or of the District of Columbia, which (A) is authorized under such laws to exercise corporate trust powers, and (B) is subject to supervision or examination by Federal, State, Territorial, or District authority.

(2) If the Commission deems it necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors, in view of the type of indenture, the amount of securities outstanding and thereafter issuable thereunder, and the duties and responsibilities imposed thereby on the trustee or trustees, the indenture to be qualified shall require that such institutional trustee have at all times a combined capital and surplus of such specified minimum amount as the Commission deems adequate, having due regard to the public interest and the interests of investors. If such institutional trustee publishes reports of condition at least annually, pursuant to law or to the requirements of such supervising or examining authority, the indenture may provide that for the purposes of this paragraph, the combined capital and surplus of such trustee shall be deemed to be its combined capital and surplus as set forth in its most recent published report of condition.

(3) If the indenture to be qualified requires or permits the appointment of one or more co-trustees in addition to such institutional trustee, such indenture shall provide that the rights, powers, duties and obligations conferred or imposed upon the trustees or any of them shall be conferred or imposed upon and exercised or performed by such institutional trustee, or such institutional trustee and such co-trustees jointly, except to the extent that under any law of any jurisdiction in which any particular act or acts are to be performed, such institutional trustee shall be incompetent or unqualified to perform such act or acts.

(4) In the case of certificates of interest or participation, the indenture to be qualified shall require that the indenture trustee or trustees have the legal power to exercise all of the rights, powers, and privileges of a holder of the security or securities in which such certificates evidence an interest or participation.

Disqualification of Trustee

(b) The indenture to be qualified shall provide that [no person shall accept or hold the position of trustee thereunder if such person has] if the indenture trustee has or shall acquire any conflicting interest as hereinafter defined, [and that, if at any time any indenture trustee has or shall acquire any such conflicting interest,] (i) such trustee shall, within 90 days after [the acquisition] ascertainment of such conflicting interest, either eliminate such conflicting [interest, or resign and take prompt steps to have a successor appointed in the manner provided in the indenture] interest or resign, such resignation to become effective upon the appointment of a successor trustee and such successor's acceptance of such appointment, and the obligor shall take prompt steps to have a successor appointed in the manner provided in the indenture, and (ii) subject to the provisions of subsection [(1)] (1) of this section, any security holder who has been a bona-fide holder of indenture securities for at least six months (on failure of such trustee on the written request of such holder either to resign or to eliminate such conflicting interest, as required by clause (i) of this subsection) may, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, petition any court of competent jurisdiction for the removal of such trustee and the appointment of a successor trustee. For the purposes of this subsection, an indenture trustee shall be deemed to have a conflicting interest if

(1) such trustee is trustee under an indenture under which any other securities, or certificates of interest or participation in any other securities, of an obligor are outstanding, other than [(A)] the indenture to be qualified,

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