On Thursday, the House voted to nullify a segment of the financial overhaul that was announced quite recently permitting the Securities and Exchange Commission to not to disclose some information that it collects during investigations.

The law was earlier endorsed on Tuesday unanimously by the Senate. It would now have to be endorsed by President Obama. This news is a shock to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro.

Last week, Ms. Schapiro appealed for the approval of the law that allows SEC to keep some information confidential, which it gathers from the inspections and other related activities when asked under the Freedom of Information Act.

“The provision merely codified existing practice and ensured proprietary data companies gave the agency during examinations wouldn't necessarily be available to competitors”, said SEC officials.

But, the approval of the legislation faced a lash of criticism by Angela Canterbury, Director of Public Policy at the Project on Government Oversight. She applauded the Congress’s move to block the implementation of the law.

The SEC’s concerns for keeping the information secret asked by the third party contained in the bill would be worked upon by him, as expressed by Rep. Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. But, he also said that the exemption won’t serve the SEC’s purpose.