Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Annual Wholesale Trade Survey, 55820-55821 [2020-19987]
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 176 / Thursday, September 10, 2020 / Notices
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Chief Information Officer, Commerce
Department.
[FR Doc. 2020–19991 Filed 9–9–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Annual Wholesale Trade
Survey
The Department of Commerce will
submit the following information
collection request to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance in accordance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, on or after the date of publication
of this notice. We invite the general
public and other Federal agencies to
comment on proposed, and continuing
information collections, which helps us
assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. Public
comments were previously requested
via the Federal Register on June 3, 2020
during a 60-day comment period. This
notice allows for an additional 30 days
for public comments.
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: Annual Wholesale Trade
Survey.
OMB Control Number: 0607–0195.
Form Number(s): SA–42A, SA–42A–
MSBO, SA–42A–AGBR.
Type of Request: Regular submission.
Request for a Revision of a Currently
Approved Collection.
Number of Respondents: 7,743.
Average Hours per Response: 1 hour
and 16 minutes.
Burden Hours: 9,846.
Needs and Uses: The Annual
Wholesale Trade Survey (AWTS) covers
employer firms with establishments
located in the United States and
classified in the wholesale trade sector,
as defined by the North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS).
There are two main types of wholesalers
in the wholesale trade sector: (1)
Merchant wholesalers and (2) agents,
brokers, and electronic markets.
Merchant wholesalers sell goods on
their own account. This category
includes sales offices and sales branches
(except retail stores) maintained by
manufacturing, refining, or mining
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:38 Sep 09, 2020
Jkt 250001
enterprises apart from their plants or
mines for the purpose of marketing their
products. Agents, brokers, and
electronic markets, on the other hand,
arrange sales and purchases for others
(generally for a commission or fee).
Respondents are further separated
into the following three type of
operation categories: Merchant
wholesalers, excluding manufacturers’
sales branches and offices;
manufacturers’ sales branches and
offices; and agents, brokers, and
electronic markets. The firms are
instructed to submit their information to
the Census Bureau via Centurion, the
Census Bureau’s online reporting
instrument. The AWTS requests data on
a variety of topics. A firm’s type of
operation classification dictates which
particular subset of data items it will
receive.
In response to a request from the
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the
AWTS will also collect annual detailed
operating expenses and annual sales tax
information during survey year 2022.
Respondents are only asked to provide
data for these two items in years ending
in ‘‘2’’ and ‘‘7’’, which coincide with the
Economic Census collection. Merchant
wholesalers, excluding manufacturers’
sales branches and offices, will receive
the detailed operating expenses and
sales tax questions. Conversely,
manufacturers’ sales branches and
offices will only see the sales tax
question. Companies that fall under the
agents, brokers, and electronic markets
category will not be asked to provide
detailed operating expenses or sales tax
information.
This survey provides an official,
continuous measure of wholesale
activity in the United States.
Government agencies, private
businesses, and researchers utilize the
estimates generated from the AWTS in
a variety of ways, including to conduct
market analysis and forecast future
demand.
From survey year 2016 through
survey year 2019, there were five
electronic form types (SA–42, SA–42A,
SA–42A–MSBO, SA–42–AGBR, and
SA–42A–AGBR). Starting with survey
year 2020 (which will be collected in
2021), there will only be three electronic
form types (SA–42A, SA–42A–MSBO,
and SA–42A–AGBR). SA–42 and SA–
42–AGBR are being removed to
streamline data collection operations
and reduce respondent burden.
Each year, estimates generated from
the AWTS are released to the public
approximately 14 months after the
reference period has concluded. These
national-level estimates are published
(for the various items collected) by
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
NAICS code and type of operation. (The
current sample was selected on a 2012
NAICS basis, so the estimates are also
released on a 2012 NAICS basis. Data
will not be published on a 2017 NAICS
basis until the next sample revision
occurs, which will not take place during
this three-year clearance window.) The
data are currently disseminated through
the AWTS website. In the future,
however, the data will be released via
the Census Bureau’s dissemination
platform, data.census.gov. The survey
year 2020 data products are scheduled
to be released through data.census.gov.
The Census Bureau issued a presubmission notice that was published in
the Federal Register on Wednesday,
June 3, 2020 (Vol. 85, No. 107). The
notice, which was located on pages
34174 and 34175, stated that the AWTS
was considering the addition of
questions related to the impact
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19)
had on firms for survey year 2020. After
internal discussions, the Census Bureau
decided it will not include COVID–19
questions on the AWTS.
The AWTS serves as a benchmark for
the estimates produced from the Census
Bureau’s Monthly Wholesale Trade
Survey (MWTS) [OMB No. 0607–0190].
Externally, the BEA uses the data to
estimate the change in the private
inventories component of gross
domestic product (GDP) and output in
both the benchmark and annual inputoutput (I–O) accounts and the GDP by
industry statistics. This agency also
utilizes the sales tax information to
prepare estimates of GDP by industry
and to derive industry output for the
I–O accounts. The data on detailed
operating expenses are used to produce
national estimates of value added, gross
output, and intermediate inputs and
serve as a benchmark for the annual
industry accounts, which provide the
control totals for the GDP by state
accounts.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
utilizes the data as an input to its
producer price indices and in
developing productivity measurements.
Other government agencies,
researchers, and businesses also use the
data for a variety of reasons. For
example, private businesses utilize the
estimates in computing business activity
indices. Additionally, the AWTS data
are used to conduct economic market
analysis, forecast future demand, and
evaluate company performance.
Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: The Census Bureau
conducts this survey under the
E:\FR\FM\10SEN1.SGM
10SEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 176 / Thursday, September 10, 2020 / Notices
authority of Title 13, United States
Code, Sections 131 and 182. Sections
224 and 225 make this survey
mandatory.
This information collection request
may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov.
Follow the instructions to view the
Department of Commerce collections
currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be
submitted within 30 days of the
publication of this notice on the
following website www.reginfo.gov/
public/do/PRAMain. Find this
particular information collection by
selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day
Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or
by using the search function and
entering either the title of the collection
or the OMB Control Number 0607–0195.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Chief Information Officer, Commerce
Department.
[FR Doc. 2020–19987 Filed 9–9–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Annual Capital Expenditures
Survey
U.S. Census Bureau,
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection,
request for comment.
AGENCY:
The Department of
Commerce, in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995, invites the general public and
other Federal agencies to comment on
proposed, and continuing information
collections, which helps us assess the
impact of our information collection
requirements and minimize the public’s
reporting burden. The purpose of this
notice is to allow for 60 days of public
comment on the proposed revision of
the Annual Capital Expenditures Survey
prior to the submission of the
information collection request (ICR) to
OMB for approval.
DATES: To ensure consideration,
comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received
on or before November 9, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit written comments by
email to Thomas.J.Smith@census.gov.
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:38 Sep 09, 2020
Jkt 250001
Please reference Annual Capital
Expenditures Survey in the subject line
of your comments. You may also submit
comments, identified by Docket Number
USBC–2020–0025, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. All comments
received are part of the public record.
No comments will be posted to https://
www.regulations.gov for public viewing
until after the comment period has
closed. Comments will generally be
posted without change. All Personally
Identifiable Information (for example,
name and address) voluntarily
submitted by the commenter may be
publicly accessible. Do not submit
Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected
information. You may submit
attachments to electronic comments in
Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF
file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection
activities should be directed to Valerie
Mastalski, Chief, Capital Expenditures
Branch, Economy-Wide Statistics
Division, U.S. Census Bureau, (301)
763–3317, or Valerie.Cherry.Mastalski@
Census.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The U.S. Census Bureau plans to
conduct the 2020 through 2022 Annual
Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES).
This survey collects data on fixed assets
and depreciation, sales and receipts,
capitalized computer software,
capitalized robotic equipment and
capital expenditures for new and used
structures and equipment. The ACES is
the sole source of detailed
comprehensive statistics on actual
business spending for private non-farm
companies, organizations, and
associations operating in the United
States. Both employer and nonemployer companies are included in the
survey.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is
a primary Federal user of ACES data.
BEA relies on ACES data to refine and
evaluate annual estimates of investment
in structures and equipment in the
national income and product accounts,
compile annual input-output tables, and
compute gross domestic product by
industry. The Federal Reserve Board
uses these data to improve estimates of
investment indicators for monetary
policy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
uses these data to improve estimates of
capital stocks for productivity analysis.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services use these data for developing
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
55821
estimates of investment in private
health care structures and equipment as
a part of the National Health
Expenditure Accounts. Industry
analysts use these data for market
analysis, economic forecasting,
identifying business opportunities,
product development, and business
planning.
Planned changes:
A. Content related to the Coronavirus
Pandemic:
a. Add a question asking if the
business received financial assistance
through a federal, state, or local relief
program.
i. If yes, what percent of the financial
assistance was spent on payroll, rent/
mortgage, utilities, capital expenditures,
other.
b. Add a question seeking impact on
payrolls in the absence of financial
assistance (i.e., reduced hours, reduced
pay, reduced staff, other).
c. Add a question asking if the
business experienced a change in
capital expenditure plans.
d. Add a question asking if the
business’s capital expenditures funded
safety/social distancing investments.
B. Revisions related to integrating
annual surveys: The Census Bureau is
undertaking an initiative to integrate
and re-engineer select annual programs.
Programs include the Annual Survey of
Manufactures (ASM), Annual Retail
Trade Survey (ARTS), Annual
Wholesale Trade Survey (AWTS),
Services Annual Survey (SAS), Annual
Capital Expenditures Survey (ACES),
Manufacturing Shipments Inventories
and Unfilled Orders (M3UFO), and
Company Organizational Survey (COS).
Efforts include coordinating collection
strategies/instruments/communication;
integrating, changing or revising
content; ensuring content is relevant;
coordinating samples; and improving
frame and coordinating status updates
across annual surveys.
C. Robotic equipment expenditures
were first collected from employer
businesses on the 2018 ACES.
Expenditures for both industrial and
service robotics were collected at the
company level and assigned to the
company’s primary industry. The U.S.
Census Bureau plans to modify the 2020
ACES to collect the presence of robotic
equipment and investment by industry
segment. This will improve the data
quality by providing researchers and
other data users better information
about what industries are using
technology. This will enable researchers
and other data users to better use this
survey as a vehicle for continual
monitoring of technology and the
workforce.
E:\FR\FM\10SEN1.SGM
10SEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 176 (Thursday, September 10, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55820-55821]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-19987]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Annual Wholesale Trade Survey
The Department of Commerce will submit the following information
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the
Federal Register on June 3, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. This
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: Annual Wholesale Trade Survey.
OMB Control Number: 0607-0195.
Form Number(s): SA-42A, SA-42A-MSBO, SA-42A-AGBR.
Type of Request: Regular submission. Request for a Revision of a
Currently Approved Collection.
Number of Respondents: 7,743.
Average Hours per Response: 1 hour and 16 minutes.
Burden Hours: 9,846.
Needs and Uses: The Annual Wholesale Trade Survey (AWTS) covers
employer firms with establishments located in the United States and
classified in the wholesale trade sector, as defined by the North
American Industry Classification System (NAICS). There are two main
types of wholesalers in the wholesale trade sector: (1) Merchant
wholesalers and (2) agents, brokers, and electronic markets. Merchant
wholesalers sell goods on their own account. This category includes
sales offices and sales branches (except retail stores) maintained by
manufacturing, refining, or mining enterprises apart from their plants
or mines for the purpose of marketing their products. Agents, brokers,
and electronic markets, on the other hand, arrange sales and purchases
for others (generally for a commission or fee).
Respondents are further separated into the following three type of
operation categories: Merchant wholesalers, excluding manufacturers'
sales branches and offices; manufacturers' sales branches and offices;
and agents, brokers, and electronic markets. The firms are instructed
to submit their information to the Census Bureau via Centurion, the
Census Bureau's online reporting instrument. The AWTS requests data on
a variety of topics. A firm's type of operation classification dictates
which particular subset of data items it will receive.
In response to a request from the Bureau of Economic Analysis
(BEA), the AWTS will also collect annual detailed operating expenses
and annual sales tax information during survey year 2022. Respondents
are only asked to provide data for these two items in years ending in
``2'' and ``7'', which coincide with the Economic Census collection.
Merchant wholesalers, excluding manufacturers' sales branches and
offices, will receive the detailed operating expenses and sales tax
questions. Conversely, manufacturers' sales branches and offices will
only see the sales tax question. Companies that fall under the agents,
brokers, and electronic markets category will not be asked to provide
detailed operating expenses or sales tax information.
This survey provides an official, continuous measure of wholesale
activity in the United States. Government agencies, private businesses,
and researchers utilize the estimates generated from the AWTS in a
variety of ways, including to conduct market analysis and forecast
future demand.
From survey year 2016 through survey year 2019, there were five
electronic form types (SA-42, SA-42A, SA-42A-MSBO, SA-42-AGBR, and SA-
42A-AGBR). Starting with survey year 2020 (which will be collected in
2021), there will only be three electronic form types (SA-42A, SA-42A-
MSBO, and SA-42A-AGBR). SA-42 and SA-42-AGBR are being removed to
streamline data collection operations and reduce respondent burden.
Each year, estimates generated from the AWTS are released to the
public approximately 14 months after the reference period has
concluded. These national-level estimates are published (for the
various items collected) by NAICS code and type of operation. (The
current sample was selected on a 2012 NAICS basis, so the estimates are
also released on a 2012 NAICS basis. Data will not be published on a
2017 NAICS basis until the next sample revision occurs, which will not
take place during this three-year clearance window.) The data are
currently disseminated through the AWTS website. In the future,
however, the data will be released via the Census Bureau's
dissemination platform, data.census.gov. The survey year 2020 data
products are scheduled to be released through data.census.gov.
The Census Bureau issued a pre-submission notice that was published
in the Federal Register on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 (Vol. 85, No. 107).
The notice, which was located on pages 34174 and 34175, stated that the
AWTS was considering the addition of questions related to the impact
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had on firms for survey year 2020.
After internal discussions, the Census Bureau decided it will not
include COVID-19 questions on the AWTS.
The AWTS serves as a benchmark for the estimates produced from the
Census Bureau's Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey (MWTS) [OMB No. 0607-
0190].
Externally, the BEA uses the data to estimate the change in the
private inventories component of gross domestic product (GDP) and
output in both the benchmark and annual input-output (I-O) accounts and
the GDP by industry statistics. This agency also utilizes the sales tax
information to prepare estimates of GDP by industry and to derive
industry output for the I-O accounts. The data on detailed operating
expenses are used to produce national estimates of value added, gross
output, and intermediate inputs and serve as a benchmark for the annual
industry accounts, which provide the control totals for the GDP by
state accounts.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) utilizes the data as an input
to its producer price indices and in developing productivity
measurements.
Other government agencies, researchers, and businesses also use the
data for a variety of reasons. For example, private businesses utilize
the estimates in computing business activity indices. Additionally, the
AWTS data are used to conduct economic market analysis, forecast future
demand, and evaluate company performance.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
Frequency: Annually.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: The Census Bureau conducts this survey under the
[[Page 55821]]
authority of Title 13, United States Code, Sections 131 and 182.
Sections 224 and 225 make this survey mandatory.
This information collection request may be viewed at
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB
Control Number 0607-0195.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-19987 Filed 9-9-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
