Tuya Inc. (“Tuya” or the “Company”) (NYSE: TUYA), a global leading IoT cloud development platform, today announced that the Company is aware that on May 4, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) provisionally listed the Company as a “Commission-Identified Issuer” under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act of the United States (the “HFCAA”).
This identification was expected by the Company as a routine procedure under HFCAA by the SEC following the Company’s filing of its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 on April 28, 2022, which indicates that the SEC has determined the Company has filed an annual report with an audit report issued by an auditor located in a foreign jurisdiction that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) is unable to inspect or investigate completely. The Company’s ADSs, each of which represents one Class A ordinary share, continue to trade uninterrupted on the New York Stock Exchange.
The HFCAA requires the SEC to prohibit the securities of a “Commission-Identified Issuer” from being traded on any of the U.S. securities exchanges if the auditor of the covered issuer’s financial statements is not subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years, beginning in 2021. In addition, legislation is being considered in the United States to shorten the number of non-inspection years from three years to two. In 2021, the SEC estimated that 273 registrants might be identified under the HFCAA based on its review of registrants in calendar year 2020.
Tuya will continue to monitor developments and has been proactively exploring available options to protect the interest of its shareholders. Tuya will continue to comply with applicable laws and regulations and strive to maintain its listing status on the New York Stock Exchange. Tuya also notes that this update has no impact on its business operations.