Bureau of Economic Analysis 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule amends the regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to set forth the reporting requirements for the BE-120, Benchmark Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons. The amended regulations for the BE-120 include both definition changes and the addition of three schedules to better collect data in accordance with new international economic accounting standards. In addition, this rule changes the BE-120 survey title from ``Benchmark Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intangible Assets with Foreign Persons'' to ``Benchmark Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons'' because the term ``intellectual property'' is better understood by U.S. respondents. The BE-120 survey covers transactions in selected services and intellectual property with foreign persons in benchmark years. In non- benchmark years, the universe estimates for these transactions are derived from sample data reported on BEA's follow-on survey, which is the Quarterly Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intangible Assets with Foreign Persons (BE-125). The data collected by the BE-120 will be used by BEA to estimate the trade in services component of the U.S. International Transactions Accounts and other economic accounts compiled by BEA. The data are also needed by the U.S. government to monitor U.S. exports and imports of selected services and intellectual property; analyze their impact on the U.S. and foreign economies; support U.S. international trade policy for selected services and intellectual property; and assess and promote U.S. competitiveness in international trade in services. In addition, the data will improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities.

This proposed rule would amend the regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to add new entities that would be required to report information on the BE-150, Quarterly Survey of Cross-Border Credit, Debit, and Charge Card Transactions. Specifically, this rule would expand the covered entities to include companies that operate personal identification number (PIN)-based debit networks. As proposed, PIN-based debit network companies would be required to report on cross-border transactions between (1) U.S. cardholders traveling abroad and foreign businesses and (2) foreign cardholders traveling in the United States and U.S. businesses. BEA is proposing this change to improve the identification of cross-border travel transactions. BEA also proposes to change the survey title from Quarterly Survey of Cross-Border Credit, Debit, and Charge Card Transactions to Quarterly Survey of Payment Card and Bank Card Transactions Related to International Travel to reflect this change to the regulations. In addition, BEA proposes to make certain changes to the data collected on the BE-150 form to collect them in greater detail. If these changes are approved, the BE-150 survey would be conducted on a quarterly basis beginning with the first quarter of 2012.

This proposed rule would amend the regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to set forth the reporting requirements for the BE-120, Benchmark Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons. The proposed BE-120 would include both definition changes and the addition of three schedules to better collect data in accordance with new international standards. In addition, this proposed rule would change the BE-120 survey title from ``Benchmark Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intangible Assets with Foreign Persons'' to ``Benchmark Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons'' because the term ``intellectual property'' is better understood by U.S. respondents. The proposed BE-120 survey is intended to cover transactions in selected services and intellectual property with foreign persons in benchmark years. In non-benchmark years, the universe estimates for these transactions would be derived from sample data reported on BEA's follow-on survey, which is the Quarterly Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intangible Assets with Foreign Persons (BE-125). The data will be used by BEA to estimate the trade in services component of the U.S. International Transactions Accounts and other economic accounts compiled by BEA. The data are also needed by the U.S. government to monitor U.S. exports and imports of selected services and intellectual property; analyze their impact on the U.S. and foreign economies; support U.S. international trade policy for selected services and intellectual property; and assess and promote U.S. competitiveness in international trade in services. In addition, the data will improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) proposes to amend its regulations related to direct investment surveys. Specifically, BEA proposes to eliminate reporting requirements for several direct investment surveys that are no longer necessary because the information is collected on other surveys of direct investment conducted by BEA. The surveys that would be eliminated from the regulations are: a survey of foreign direct investment in the U.S. seafood industry (BE-21), two schedules of expenditures for property, plant, and equipment of U.S. direct investment abroad (BE-133B and BE-133C), and two industry classification questionnaires (BE-507 and BE-607). In addition, BEA proposes to eliminate the reporting requirements for two surveys of new foreign direct investment in the United States (BE-13 and BE-14). BEA suspended collection of these surveys in 2009 in order to align its international survey program with available resources. BEA also proposes other minor revisions to its regulations to eliminate outdated information.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).