Economic Analysis Bureau 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.