[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 167 (Tuesday, August 28, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 45219-45221]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-21646]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Economic Analysis
15 CFR Part 801
[Docket No. 010724189-1189-01]
RIN 0691-AA41
International Services Surveys: BE-20, Benchmark Survey of
Selected Services Transactions With Unaffiliated Foreign Persons
AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: This document sets forth proposed rules to amend the reporting
requirements for the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services
Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.
The BE-20 survey is conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis
(BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the International Investment
and Trade in Services Survey Act. The data are needed to support U.S.
trade policy initiatives; compile the U.S. international transactions,
national income and product, and input-output accounts; assess U.S.
competitiveness in international trade in services; and improve the
ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market
opportunities.
BEA proposes to raise the exemption level for the BE-20 survey to
$1 million in covered sales or purchases transactions from $500,000 on
the previous (1996) survey. Raising the exemption level will reduce
respondent burden, particularly for small companies.
The proposed rule also: creates new categories for other trade-
related services, auxiliary insurance services, and waste treatment and
depollution services; adds coverage of transcription services to
``other'' private services; and amends several other service
categories. These proposed changes will close some statistical gaps in
the coverage of cross-border services transactions and bring the survey
into better compliance with international standards for compilation of
statistics on trade in services.
DATES: Comments on these proposed rules will receive consideration if
submitted in writing on or before October 29, 2001.
ADDRESSES: Mail comments to the Office of the Chief, International
Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Washington DC 20230, or hand deliver them to
room M-100, 1441 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005. Comments will be
available for public inspection in room 7005, 1441 L Street, NW.,
between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: R. David Belli, Chief, International
Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; phone (202) 606-9800.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These proposed rules amend 15 CFR part 801
by revising Section 801.10 to set forth revised reporting requirements
for the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services Transactions with
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. The survey is conducted by the Bureau of
Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (P.L. 94-472,
90 Stat. 2059, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108, as amended). Section 3103(a) of the
Act provides that ``The President shall, to the extent he deems
necessary and feasible--* * *(1) conduct a regular data collection
program to secure current information * * * related to international
investment and trade in services * * *''. In Section 3 of Executive
Order 11961, as amended by Executive Order 12518, the President
delegated the authority under the Act as concerns international trade
in services to the Secretary of Commerce, who has redelegated it to
BEA.
The BE-20 is a benchmark survey of selected services transactions
with
[[Page 45220]]
unaffiliated foreign persons. The data are needed to support U.S. trade
policy initiatives; compile the U.S. international transactions,
national income and product, and input-output accounts; assess U.S.
competitiveness in international trade in services; and improve the
ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market
opportunities.
Under the proposed rule, reporting in the BE-20 benchmark survey
would be required from all U.S. persons whose covered services
transactions (either sales or purchases) were in excess $1 million with
unaffiliated foreign persons during the reporting year. The proposed
exemption level is an increase from the current level of $500,000. The
increase is intended to reduce respondent burden, particularly for
small companies, but will not make the published results any less
comprehensive. Respondents that fall below the proposed $1 million
dollar exemption level account for a small share of transactions and
will, nonetheless, be required to indicate their total receipts and
payments for all services covered by the survey combined in claiming
exemption, and to list the primary service provided. BEA will allocate
these small amounts by country and by type of service, based on the
distribution of reported transactions, for inclusion in the published
totals. Thus, the estimates will cover the universe of transactions.
Executive Order 12866
These proposed rules have been determined to be not significant for
purposes of E.O. 12866.
Executive Order 13132
These proposed rules do not contain policies with Federalism
implications sufficient to warrant preparation of a Federalism
assessment under E.O. 13132.
Paperwork Reduction Act
These proposed rules contain a collection of information
requirement subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. A request for
review of the forms has been submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget under section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required
to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure
to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements
of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection displays a
currently valid OMB Control Number.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is
estimated to vary from less than four hours to 500 hours, with an
overall average burden of 12 hours. This includes time for reviewing
the instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and
maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the
collection of information.
Comments are requested concerning: (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the agency, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the burden estimate; (c) ways to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d)
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology. Comments should be addressed to:
Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BE-1), U.S. Department of
Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; and to the Office of Management and
Budget, O.I.R.A., Paperwork Reduction Project 0608-0058, Washington, DC
20503 (Attention PRA Desk Officer for BEA).
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Chief Counsel for Regulation, Department of Commerce, has
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business
Administration, under the provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act
(5 U.S.C. 605(b)), that this proposed rulemaking, if adopted, will not
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities.
While the survey does not collect data on total sales or other
measures of the overall size of businesses that respond to the survey,
historically the respondent universe has been comprised mainly of major
U.S. corporations. With the proposed increase in the exemption level
for the survey from $500,000 to $1 million in covered receipts or
payments, even fewer small businesses can be expected to be subject to
reporting than in the past. Of those smaller businesses that must
report, most will tend to have specialized operations and activities
and thus will be likely to report only one type of service transaction,
often limited to transactions with a single partner country; therefore,
the burden on them can be expected to be small.
List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 801
Economic statistic, Balance of payments, Foreign trade, Penalties,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: July 19, 2001.
J. Steven Landefeld,
Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, BEA proposes to amend 15
CFR part 801, as follows:
PART 801--SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN SERVICES BETWEEN U.S.
AND FOREIGN PERSONS
1. The authority citation for 15 CFR Part 801 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301, 15 U.S.C. 4908, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108,
and E.O. 11961 (3 CFR, 1977 Comp., p. 860 as amended by E.O. 12013
(3 CFR, 1977 Comp., p. 147), E.O. 12318 (3 CFR, 1981 Comp., p. 173),
and E.O. 12518 (3 CFR, 1985 Comp., p. 348).
2. Section 801.10 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 801.10 Rules and Regulations for the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of
Selected Services Transactions With Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.
The BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services Transactions with
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons, will be conducted covering companies'
2001 fiscal year and every fifth year thereafter. All legal
authorities, provisions, definitions, and requirements contained in
Secs. 801.1 through 801.9(a) are applicable to this survey. Additional
rules and regulations for the BE-20 survey are given in this section.
More detailed instructions and descriptions of the individual types of
services covered are given on the report from itself.
(a) The BE-20 survey consists of two parts and seven schedules.
Part I requests information needed to determine whether a report is
required and which schedules apply. Part II requests information about
the reporting entity. Each of the seven schedules covers one or more
types of services and is to be completed only if the U.S. Reporter has
transactions of the type(s) covered by the particular schedule.
(b) Who must report. (1) Mandatory reporting. A BE-20 report is
required from each person who had transactions (either sales or
purchases) in excess of $1 million with unaffiliated foreign persons in
any of the services listed in paragraph (c) of this section during its
fiscal year covered by the survey.
(i) The determination of whether a U.S. person is subject to this
mandatory reporting requirement may be judgmental, that is, based on
the judgment of knowledgeable persons in a company who can identify
reportable
[[Page 45221]]
transactions on a recall basis, with a reasonable degree of certainty,
without conducting a detailed records search. Because the $1 million
threshold applies separately to sales and purchases, the mandatory
reporting requirement may apply only to sales, only to purchases, or to
both sales and purchases.
(ii) Reporters who file pursuant to this mandatory reporting
requirement must complete Parts I and II of Form BE-20 and all
applicable schedules. The total amounts of transactions applicable to a
particular schedule are to be entered in the appropriate column(s) on
line 1 of the schedule. In addition, except for sales of merchanting
services, these amounts must be distributed below line 1 to the
country(ies) involved in the transactions). For sales of merchanting
services, the data by individual foreign country are not required to be
reported, although these data may be reported voluntarily.
(iii) Application of the $1 million exemption level to each covered
service is indicated on the schedule for that particular service. It
should be noted that an item other than sales or purchases may be used
as the measure of a given service for purposes of determining whether
the threshold for mandatory reporting of the service is exceeded.
(2) Voluntary reporting. If, during the fiscal year covered, the
U.S. person's total transaction (either sales or purchases) in any of
the types of services listed in paragraph (c) of this section are $1
million or less, the U.S. person is requested to provide an estimate of
the total for the each type of service.
(i) Provision of this information is voluntary. The estimates may
be judgmental, that is, based on recall, without conducting a detailed
manual records search. Because the $1 million threshold applies
separately to sales and purchases, the voluntary reporting option may
apply only to sales, only to purchases, or to both sales and purchases.
(ii) The amounts of transactions reportable on a particular
schedule are to be entered in the appropriate column(s) in the
voluntary reporting section of the schedule; they are not required to
be disaggregated by country. Reporters filing voluntary information
only should also complete Parts I and II of the form.
(3) Any U.S. person that receives the BE-20 survey form from BEA,
but is not reporting data in either the mandatory or voluntary section
of the form, must nevertheless complete and return the Exemption Claim
included with the form to BEA. This requirement is necessary to ensure
compliance with reporting requirements and efficient administration of
the Act by eliminating unnecessary followup contact.
(c) Covered types of services. Only the services listed in this
paragraph are covered by the BE-20 survey. Other services, such as
transportation and reinsurance, are not covered. Covered services are
Agricultural services; research, development, and testing services;
management, consulting, and public relations service; management of
health care facilities; accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services;
legal services; educational and training services; mailing,
reproduction, and commercial art; employment agencies and temporary
help supply services; industrial engineering services; industrial-type
maintenance, installation, alteration, and training services;
performing arts, sports, and other live performances, presentations,
and events; sale and purchase of rights to natural resources, and lease
bonus payments; use or lease of rights to natural resources, excluding
lease bonus payments; disbursements to fund news-gathering costs of
broadcasters; disbursements to fund news-gathering costs of print
media; disbursements to fund production costs of motion pictures;
disbursements to fund production costs of broadcast program material
other than news; disbursements to maintain government tourism and
business promotion offices; disbursements for sales promotion and
representation; disbursements to participate in foreign trade shows
(purchases only); premiums paid on purchases of primary insurance;
losses recovered on purchases of primary insurance; construction
services (purchases only); engineering, architectural, and surveying
services (purchases only); mining services (purchases only);
merchanting services (sales only); financial services (purchases only,
by companies or parts of companies that are not financial services
providers); advertising services; computer and data processing
services; data base and other information services; telecommunications
services; operational leasing services; other trade-related services;
auxiliary insurance services; waste treatment and depollution services;
and ``other'' private services. ``Other'' private services covers
transactions in the following types of services: Language translation
services, salvage services, security services, collection services,
satellite photography and remote sensing/satellite imagery services,
transport (includes satellite launches, transport of goods and people
for scientific experiments, and space passenger transport), and
transcription services.
[FR Doc. 01-21646 Filed 8-27-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-M