The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is taking aim at SEC practices it views as unfair to corporate America.

In a report issued March 9, the chamber criticized what it called “an overly punitive approach to enforcement” and made 15 recommendations for changes it said would be beneficial to businesses, investors, taxpayers and the SEC itself.

The key recommendation calls for appointment of an advisory committee to study enforcement processes and discover the reasons for a wave of recent cases in which administrative law judges and courts have been critical of the SEC's legal and factual analyses. Other recommendations include:

- Further clarifying standards for seeking fines against public companies for securities law violations caused by individual employees

- Making clear that companies do not have to waive attorney-client privilege in order to be viewed as cooperative in its investigations

- Stopping the practice of imposing fines on corporations for perceived lack of cooperation

The report was compiled by David Andrews, retired SVP for government affairs, general counsel and secretary for PepsiCo, Inc., and Bruce Hiler, chair of the Securities and Financial Institutions Regulation Department at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

“Sound regulation and enforcement are needed to ensure that our capital markets remain accessible, competitive and free of bad actors,” Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue said in a statement. “While the SEC has made significant progress in providing more transparent guidelines to determine corporate penalties, its enforcement process is not always fair, consistently and appropriately applied, or respectful of due process.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is taking aim at SEC practices it views as unfair to corporate America.

In a report issued March 9, the chamber criticized what it called “an overly punitive approach to enforcement” and made 15 recommendations for changes it said would be beneficial to businesses, investors, taxpayers and the SEC itself.

The key recommendation calls for appointment of an advisory committee to study enforcement processes and discover the reasons for a wave of recent cases in which administrative law judges and courts have been critical of the SEC's legal and factual analyses. Other recommendations include:

- Further clarifying standards for seeking fines against public companies for securities law violations caused by individual employees

- Making clear that companies do not have to waive attorney-client privilege in order to be viewed as cooperative in its investigations

- Stopping the practice of imposing fines on corporations for perceived lack of cooperation

The report was compiled by David Andrews, retired SVP for government affairs, general counsel and secretary for PepsiCo, Inc., and Bruce Hiler, chair of the Securities and Financial Institutions Regulation Department at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

“Sound regulation and enforcement are needed to ensure that our capital markets remain accessible, competitive and free of bad actors,” Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue said in a statement. “While the SEC has made significant progress in providing more transparent guidelines to determine corporate penalties, its enforcement process is not always fair, consistently and appropriately applied, or respectful of due process.”