Bureau of Economic Analysis – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This proposed rule would amend regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Department of Commerce, to set forth the reporting requirements for the 2009 BE-10, Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad. The benchmark survey covers the U.S. direct investment abroad universe, and is BEA's most comprehensive survey of such investment in terms of subject matter. Benchmark surveys are conducted every 5 years. The proposed changes for the 2009 benchmark survey include changes in form design and reporting criteria to simplify the forms and improve response rates and changes that would reduce detail collected while considering the current needs of data users and respondent burden. Some of the items that would no longer be collected are those that are now collected on BEA's surveys of international services.

This final rule amends the Bureau of Economic Analysis' (BEA) regulations to set forth the reporting requirements for a new mandatory Benchmark Survey of Insurance Transactions by U.S. Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons. The survey will collect data on cross-border reinsurance and other insurance transactions from U.S. insurance companies. The BE-140 survey will be conducted every five years with the first survey covering calendar year 2008. The BE-140 survey data will be used by BEA to estimate the insurance services component of the U.S. International Transactions Accounts (ITAs) and other economic accounts compiled by BEA.

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.

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.

This final rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to set forth the reporting requirements for a new mandatory survey entitled the BE-150, Quarterly Survey of Cross-Border Credit, Debit, and Charge Card Transactions. The survey will collect from major U.S. credit card companies data on cross-border credit, debit, and charge card transactions between U.S. cardholders traveling abroad and foreign businesses and between foreign cardholders traveling in the United States and U.S. businesses. The BE- 150 survey will be conducted on a quarterly basis beginning with the first quarter of 2009.

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.

This final rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to change the reporting requirements for the BE-11, Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad. The BE-11 survey is conducted annually and is a sample survey that obtains financial and operating data covering the overall operations of U.S. parent companies and their foreign affiliates. BEA is making changes in the reporting criteria that will raise the thresholds for reporting on the survey.

This proposed rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to amend the reporting requirements for the BE-11, Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad. The BE-11 survey is conducted annually and is a sample survey that obtains financial and operating data covering U.S. parent companies and their foreign affiliates. BEA proposes changes in the reporting criteria that will raise the thresholds for reporting.

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 take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This final rule amends regulations concerning the reporting requirements for the BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States. The BE-12 survey is conducted once every 5 years and covers virtually the entire universe of foreign direct investment in the United States in terms of value. The benchmark survey will be conducted for 2007. BEA is changing the reporting requirements on the BE-12 Benchmark survey to: Increase the exemption level for reporting on the BE-12(LF) (Long Form) from $125 million to $175 million; increase the exemption level for reporting on the BE- 12(SF) (Short Form) from $10 million to $40 million; and increase the exemption level for reporting on the BE-12 Bank Form from $10 million to $15 million. In addition, BEA is amending Form BE-12(X) by: Re-naming it the Form BE-12 Claim for Not Filing and deleting several questions, which will be moved to a new Form BE-12 Mini. The Claim for Not Filing will be completed only by persons that are not subject to the reporting requirements of the BE-12 survey but have been contacted by BEA concerning their reporting status. The BE-12 Mini is an abbreviated form for reporting U.S. affiliates with total assets, sales or gross operating revenues, and net income (loss) less than or equal to $40 million.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) proposes to provide to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data collected from several surveys that it conducts on U.S. direct investment abroad, foreign direct investment in the United States, and U.S. international services transactions for statistical purposes exclusively. In accordance with the requirement of Section 524(d) of the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA), we are providing the opportunity for public comment on this data-sharing action. The data provided to BLS will be used for two purposes: (1) The BLS International Price Program is researching the feasibility of producing price indexes for imports and exports of services, such as financial services, film and tape rentals, and royalties and license fees. BLS will use data from BEA surveys to develop sample frames of companies that trade these services and to directly collect price information from the selected companies. BLS will also use BEA data as weighting sources for the price indexes. Should it prove feasible to produce price indexes for international services, BEA will share data collected in its direct investment and international services surveys with BLS each time BLS draws a new sample and reweights the indexes. BLS will share sample frame and revenue information that it collects with BEA, which will allow BEA to identify errors or omissions in the data collected on its surveys. This data sharing effort will improve the quality of price indexes for imported and exported services that BEA uses in compiling the National Income and Product Accounts. (2) The BLS Division of Foreign Labor Statistics will use BEA data collected on employment, compensation, and (as available) hours worked at the foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational companies to estimate their hourly compensation costs for research comparing the levels and trends of hourly compensation costs of foreign affiliates with the average costs for establishments in the same industries and same host countries as the affiliates.

This proposed rule would amend regulations concerning the reporting requirements for the BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States. The BE-12 survey is conducted once every 5 years and covers virtually the entire universe of foreign direct investment in the United States in terms of value. The benchmark survey will be conducted for 2007. To address the current needs of data users while at the same time keeping the respondent burden as low as possible, BEA proposes modification, addition, or deletion of several items on the survey forms and changes in the reporting criteria. Changes proposed by BEA in the reporting requirements in this proposed rule are: (a) Increasing the exemption level for reporting on the BE-12(LF) long form from $125 million to $175 million; (b) increasing the exemption level for reporting on the BE-12(SF) short form from $10 million to $40 million; and (c) increasing the exemption level for reporting on the BE-12 Bank form from $10 million to $15 million. In addition, BEA proposes to amend Form BE-12(X) by: (1) re- naming it the Form BE-12 Claim for Not Filing and (2) deleting several questions, which will be moved to a new Form BE-12 Mini. The Claim for Not Filing would be completed only by persons that are not subject to the reporting requirements of the BE-12 survey but have been contacted by BEA concerning their reporting status. The BE-12 Mini is an abbreviated form for reporting U.S. affiliates with total assets, sales or gross operating revenues, and net income (loss) less than or equal to $40 million.

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)).

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will provide to the Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) data collected from several surveys that it conducts on U.S. direct investment abroad, foreign direct investment in the United States, and U.S. international services transactions for statistical purposes exclusively. In accordance with the requirement of Section 524(d) of the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA), we provided the opportunity for public comment on this data-sharing action (see the January 23, 2007 edition of the Federal Register (72 FR 2854)). The data provided to Census Bureau will be used for two purposes: (1) Data from BEA surveys of U.S. direct investment abroad and foreign direct investment in the United States will be linked with data from the Survey of Industrial Research and Development conducted by the Census Bureau under a joint partnership agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). The linked data will be used to produce aggregate tabulations for the NSF, which will provide an integrated data set on R&D performance and funding with domestic and foreign ownership detail. BEA will use the linked data to augment its existing R&D-related data, identify data quality issues arising from reporting differences in BEA and Census Bureau surveys, and improve its survey sample frames. The Census Bureau will identify unmatched companies on BEA files that conduct R&D activities and add them to the R&D survey to improve the survey's sample. The NSF will be provided non-confidential aggregate data (public use) and reports that have cleared BEA and Census Bureau disclosure review. Disclosure review is a process conducted to verify that the data to be released do not reveal any confidential information. (2) BEA will also provide data to the Census Bureau in order to link records from its surveys of U.S. international services transactions, U.S. direct investment abroad, and foreign direct investment in the United States with information from the Census Bureau's Business Register and with data from the 2002 Economic Census. This linked information will be used by the BEA to evaluate the feasibility of developing state-level estimates of service exports.

This final rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to set forth the reporting requirements for the BE-185, Quarterly Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons. This survey replaces a similar but more limited survey, the BE-85, Quarterly Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. A new agency form number and survey title are being introduced because the survey program is being reconfigured to begin collection of data on transactions with affiliated foreigners using the same survey instruments as are used to collect information on transactions with unaffiliated foreigners. This change will allow respondents to report financial services transactions with foreign persons on one quarterly survey, rather than on as many as three different quarterly surveys. The BE-185 survey will be conducted quarterly beginning with the first quarter of 2007. The BE-185 survey data will be used to update universe estimates from similar data reported on the BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons and on the benchmark and quarterly direct investment surveys that were administered to collect data on transactions with affiliated foreign persons.

This final rule amends 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 Intangible Assets with Foreign Persons. This survey replaces a similar but more limited survey, the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. The agency form number and survey title are being changed because the survey is being reconfigured to reflect changes in BEA's survey program for international services that have occurred since the previous BE-20 survey was conducted, as well as to begin collection of data on transactions with affiliated foreigners and unaffiliated foreigners using the same survey instruments. The BE-120 survey will be conducted once every five years beginning with fiscal year 2006. The BE-120 survey is intended to cover the universe of selected services transactions and transactions in intangible assets with foreign persons. In nonbenchmark years, universe estimates covering these transactions will be derived from the sample data reported on BEA's follow-on quarterly survey, by extrapolating forward the universe data collected on the BE-120 benchmark survey.

This proposed rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to set forth the reporting requirements for the BE-185, Quarterly Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons. This rule would replace the rule for a similar but more limited survey, the BE-85, Quarterly Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. A new agency form number and survey title are being introduced because the survey program is being reconfigured to begin collection of data on transactions with affiliated foreigners using the same survey instruments as are used to collect information on transactions with unaffiliated foreigners. This change will allow respondents to report financial services transactions with foreign persons on one quarterly survey, rather than on as many as three different quarterly surveys. If adopted the BE-185 survey would be conducted quarterly beginning with the first quarter of 2007. The proposed BE-185 survey data would be used to update universe estimates from similar data reported on the BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons and on the benchmark and quarterly direct investment surveys that were administered to collect data on transactions with affiliated foreign persons.

This proposed rule amends 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 Intangible Assets with Foreign Persons. This rule would replace the rule for a similar but more limited survey, the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. The agency form number and survey title are being changed because the survey is being reconfigured to reflect changes in BEA's survey program for international services that have occurred since the previous BE-20 survey was conducted, as well as to begin collection of data on transactions with affiliated foreigners and unaffiliated foreigners using the same survey instruments. If adopted the BE-120 survey would be conducted once every five years beginning with fiscal year 2006. The proposed BE-120 survey is intended to cover the universe of selected services transactions and transactions in intangible assets with foreign persons. In nonbenchmark years, universe estimates covering these transactions would be derived from the sample data reported on BEA's follow-on quarterly survey, by extrapolating forward the universe data collected on the BE-120 benchmark survey.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will provide to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data collected from several surveys that it conducts on U.S. direct investment abroad, foreign direct investment in the United States, and U.S. international trade in services for statistical purposes exclusively. In accordance with the requirement of Section 524(d) of the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA), we provided the opportunity for public comment on this data-sharing action (see the March 27, 2006 edition of the Federal Register (71 FR 15160)). BEA will provide data collected in its surveys to link with data from BLS surveys, including the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, and the Mass Layoff Statistics survey. The linked data will be used for several purposes by both agencies, such as to develop detailed industry-level estimates of the employment, payroll, and occupational structure of foreign-owned U.S. companies or of U.S. companies that own foreign affiliates, and to assess the adequacy of current government data for understanding the international outsourcing activities of U.S. companies. Non- confidential aggregate data (public use) and reports that have cleared BEA and BLS disclosure review will be provided to the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) as potential inputs into a study of off-shoring authorized by a grant to NAPA under Public Law 108-447. Disclosure review is a process conducted to verify that the data to be released do not reveal any confidential 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)).

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)).

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)).

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)).

This proposed rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to set forth the reporting requirements for the quarterly BE-577, Direct Transactions of U.S. Reporter With Foreign Affiliate. The BE-577 survey is conducted quarterly and is a sample survey that obtains data on transactions and positions between U.S.-owned foreign business enterprises and their U.S. parents. To address the current needs of data users while at the same time keeping the respondent burden as low as possible, BEA proposes modification of items on the survey form and in the reporting criteria. Changes are proposed to bring the BE-577 forms and related instructions into conformity with the 2004 BE-10, Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad, and to exclude data that have recently begun to be collected on other Government surveys.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Public Law 92- 463 as amended by Public Law 94-409, Public Law 96-523, Public Law 97- 375 and Public Law 105-153), we are giving notice of a meeting of the Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee. The meeting's agenda is as follows: 1. Director's report/update; 2. Communication of BEA data methodologies and concepts; 3. NAICS, NAPCS and time series continuity; 4. International data needs; 5. Medical care spending.