1934                             Laws of Maryland                       Ch. 678

ployed by him shall not be required to, and shall not voluntarily, dis-
close or divulge the contents of any communication made to him by
any person employing him to examine, audit or report on any books,
records, accounts or statements nor any information derived there-
from in rendering professional service; provided that nothing in
this section shall be taken or construed as modifying, changing or
affecting the criminal laws of this State or the bankruptcy laws.

[21.] 22. DEFINITIONS

(a)  When used in this article:

(b)   "Board" means the Maryland State Board of Public Accoun-
tancy provided for in Section 1, under its present or former name.

(c)   "Certified public accountant" or "public accountant" means
a person holding a certificate in good standing as a Maryland certi-
fied public accountant, or a special certificate of registration, or hold-
ing a certificate as a Maryland registered public accountant as
referred to in Section 7, issued under this article or any prior law
of Maryland, unless otherwise specified.

(d)   "Enrollment certificate" means a certificate which has been
issued by the Board under Section [10] 11 as evidence that the
person or partnership named therein has been enrolled to practice
public accounting, and which has not expired or been revoked or
suspended.

(e)   "State" includes any state, territory or insular possession of
the United States, or the District of Columbia.

[22.] 23. CONSTRUCTION

If any provision of this article or the application thereof to any
one or to any circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not
affect other provisions or applications of the article which can be
given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this
end the provisions of this article are declared to be severable.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act shall
be construed or applied to change or interfere with the tenure of
the economist member of the Maryland State Board of Public
Accountancy who holds that position on the effective date of this
Act, for the remainder of his regular tenure therein. When his term
expires an economist shall not be appointed to this place on the
Board, but as provided in Section 1 of Article 75A of the Code, as
amended by this Act, a certified public accountant shall be appointed
to this place on the Board.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
July 1, 1970.

Approved May 21, 1970.

CHAPTER 678
(Senate Bill 588)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 650 (b)
of Article 43 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1965 Replace-