(a) Rulemaking

The Commission shall require, by rule, each nationally recognized statistical rating organization to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures that—

(1) assess the probability that an issuer of a security or money market instrument will default, fail to make timely payments, or otherwise not make payments to investors in accordance with the terms of the security or money market instrument;

(2) clearly define and disclose the meaning of any symbol used by the nationally recognized statistical rating organization to denote a credit rating; and

(3) apply any symbol described in paragraph (2) in a manner that is consistent for all types of securities and money market instruments for which the symbol is used.

(b) Rule of construction

Terms Used In 15 USC 78o-8

  • Commission: means the Securities and Exchange Commission established by section 78d of this title. See 15 USC 78c
  • credit rating: means an assessment of the creditworthiness of an obligor as an entity or with respect to specific securities or money market instruments. See 15 USC 78c
  • issuer: means any person who issues or proposes to issue any security. See 15 USC 78c
  • nationally recognized statistical rating organization: means a credit rating agency that&mdash. See 15 USC 78c
  • security: means any note, stock, treasury stock, security future, security-based swap, bond, debenture, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement or in any oil, gas, or other mineral royalty or lease, any collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency, or in general, any instrument commonly known as a "security". See 15 USC 78c

Nothing in this section shall prohibit a nationally recognized statistical rating organization from using distinct sets of symbols to denote credit ratings for different types of securities or money market instruments.

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