As a public company with securities listed on Nasdaq, we are required to have our financial statements audited by an independent registered public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB. A requirement of being registered with the PCAOB is that if requested by the SEC or PCAOB, such accounting firm is required to make its audits and related audit work papers be subject to regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Since our auditor is located in Hong Kong and PRC, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has previously been unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the PRC authorities due to various state secrecy laws and the revised Securities Law, the PCAOB did not have free access to inspect the work of our auditor. This lack of access to the PCAOB inspection in the PRC prevents the PCAOB from fully evaluating audits and quality control procedures of our auditor based in the PRC. As a result, the investors may be deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in the PRC makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of these accounting firms' audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of the PRC that are subject to the PCAOB inspections.
On December 18, 2020, the HFCAA was enacted. In essence, the act requires the SEC to prohibit securities of any foreign companies from being listed on U.S. securities exchanges or traded "over-the-counter" if a company retains a foreign accounting firm that cannot be inspected by the PCAOB for three consecutive years, beginning in 2021. Our independent registered public accounting firm is located in and organized under the laws of Hong Kong and the PRC, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the PRC authorities, and therefore our auditors are not currently inspected by the PCAOB.
On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final amendments, which will become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCAA. The interim final amendments will apply to registrants that the SEC identifies as having filed an annual report with an audit report issued by a registered public accounting firm that is located in a foreign jurisdiction and that the PCAOB has determined it is unable to inspect or investigate completely because of a position taken by an authority in that jurisdiction. Before any registrant will be required to comply with the interim final amendments, the SEC must implement a process for identifying such registrants. Consistent with the HFCAA, the amendments will require any identified registrant to submit documentation to the SEC establishing that the registrant is not owned or controlled by a government entity in that jurisdiction, and will also require, among other things, disclosure in the registrant's annual report regarding the audit arrangements of, and government influence on, such registrant.
On June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the AHFCAA which, if enacted, would decrease the number of non-inspection years from three years to two, thus reducing the time period before the Company's securities may be delisted or prohibited from trading.
On November 5, 2021, the SEC approved PCAOB Rule 6100, Board Determination Under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountability Act, effective immediately. The rule establishes "a framework for the PCAOB's determinations under the HFCAA that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms located in a foreign jurisdiction because of a position taken by an authority in that jurisdiction."
On December 2, 2021, SEC has announced the adoption of amendments to finalize rules implementing the submission and disclosure requirements in the HFCAA. The rules apply to registrants the SEC identifies as having filed an annual report with an audit report issued by a registered public accounting firm that is located in a foreign jurisdiction and that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate ("Commission-Identified Issuers"). The final amendments require Commission-Identified Issuers to submit documentation to the SEC establishing that, if true, it is not owned or controlled by a governmental entity in the public accounting firm's foreign jurisdiction. The amendments also require that a Commission-Identified Issuer that is a "foreign issuer," as defined in Exchange Act Rule 3b-4, provide certain additional disclosures in its annual report for itself and any of its consolidated foreign operating entities. Further, the adopting release provides notice regarding the procedures the SEC has established to identify issuers and to impose trading prohibitions on the securities of certain Commission-Identified Issuers, as required by the HFCAA. The SEC will identify Commission-Identified Issuers for fiscal years beginning after December 18, 2020. A Commission-Identified Issuer will be required to comply with the submission and disclosure requirements in the annual report for each year in which it was identified. If a registrant is identified as a Commission-Identified Issuer based on its annual report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, the registrant will be required to comply with the submission or disclosure requirements in its annual report filing covering the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.
On December 16, 2021, PCAOB issued a report on its determinations that PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the PRC, because of positions taken by PRC authorities in those jurisdictions. The PCAOB made these determinations pursuant to PCAOB Rule 6100, which provides a framework for how the PCAOB fulfils its responsibilities under the HFCAA. The report further listed in its Appendix A and Appendix B, Registered Public Accounting Firms Subject to the Mainland China Determination and Registered Public Accounting Firms Subject to the Hong Kong Determination, respectively. The audit report included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the years ended February 28, 2023 and 2022, was issued by Centurion ZD CPA & Co., an audit firm headquartered in Hong Kong, a jurisdiction that the PCAOB previously determined that the PCAOB is unable to conduct inspections or investigate auditors. However, on December 15, 2022, the PCAOB determined that the PCAOB was able to secure complete access to inspect and investigate registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong and voted to vacate its previous determinations. Should the PRC authorities obstruct or otherwise fail to facilitate the PCAOB's access in the future, the PCAOB will consider the need to issue a new determination.
In June 2022, we were identified as a Commission-Identified Issuer on the SEC's "Conclusive list of issuers identified under the HFCAA" (available at https://www.sec.gov/hfcaa), however, on September 10, 2024 we changed our auditor to CT International LLP based in San Francisco, CA, and, as a result, we do not expect to be required to comply with the submission or disclosure requirements in our annual report covering the fiscal year ended February 28, 2025. As noted above, on December 15, 2022, the PCAOB vacated its previous determinations that it is unable to inspect and investigate completely PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong.
Under the HFCAA (as amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023), our securities may be prohibited from trading on the U.S. stock exchanges or in the over the counter trading market in the U.S. if our auditor is not inspected by the PCAOB for two consecutive years, and this ultimately could result in our common stock being delisted. On June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the AHFCAA, which was enacted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, as further described below.
On August 26, 2022, the PCAOB signed a Statement of Protocol with the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance of the PRC, taking the first step toward opening access for the PCAOB to inspect and investigate registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong. The Statement of Protocol gives the PCAOB sole discretion to select the firms, audit engagements and potential violations it inspects and investigates and put in place procedures for PCAOB inspectors and investigators to view complete audit work papers with all information included and for the PCAOB to retain information as needed. In addition, the Statement of Protocol grants the PCAOB direct access to interview and take testimony from all personnel associated with the audits the PCAOB inspects or investigates. While significant, the Statement of Protocol is only a first step. Uncertainties still exist as to whether and how this new Statement of Protocol will be implemented. Notwithstanding the signing of the Statement of Protocol, if the PCAOB cannot make a determination that it is able to inspect and investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong, trading of our securities will still be prohibited under the HFCAA and Nasdaq will determine to delist our securities. Therefore, there is no assurance that the Statement of Protocol will relieve us from the delisting risk under the HFCAA.
On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, was signed into law, which amended the HFCAA (i) to reduce the number of consecutive years that would trigger delisting from three years to two years, and (ii) so that any foreign jurisdiction could be the reason why the PCAOB does not to have complete access to inspect or investigate a company's auditors. As it was originally enacted, the HFCAA applied only if the PCAOB's inability to inspect or investigate because of a position taken by an authority in the foreign jurisdiction where the relevant public accounting firm is located. As a result of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, the HFCAA now also applies if the PCAOB's inability to inspect or investigate the relevant accounting firm is due to a position taken by an authority in any foreign jurisdiction. The denying jurisdiction does not need to be where the accounting firm is located.
The SEC may propose additional rules or guidance that could impact us if our auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspection. For example, on November 6, 2020, the President's Working Group on Financial Markets issued the Report on Protecting United States Investors from Significant Risks from Chinese Companies to the then President of the United States. This report recommended that the SEC implement five recommendations to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfil its statutory mandate. Some of the concepts of these recommendations were implemented with the enactment of the HFCAA. However, some of the recommendations were more stringent than the HFCAA. For example, if a company was not subject to PCAOB inspection, the report recommended that the transition period before a company would be delisted would end on January 1, 2022.
The enactment of the HFCAA and the implications of any additional rulemaking efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information in PRC could cause investor uncertainty for affected SEC registrants, including us, and the market price of our common stock could be materially adversely affected. Additionally, whether the PCAOB will be able to conduct inspections of our auditor in the next two years, or at all, is subject to substantial uncertainty and depends on a number of factors out of our control. If we are unable to meet the PCAOB inspection requirement in time, our stock will not be permitted for trading on Nasdaq Capital Market either. Such a delisting would substantially impair your ability to sell or purchase our stock when you wish to do so, and the risk and uncertainty associated with delisting would have a negative impact on the price of our stock. Also, such a delisting would significantly affect our ability to raise capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all, which would have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.