Economic Analysis Bureau September 21, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.