[Federal Register: September 23, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 184)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 55202-55204]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23se03-8]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Economic Analysis
15 CFR Part 801
[Docket No. 030910227-3227-01]
RIN 0691-AA53
International Services Surveys: BE-45, Quarterly Survey of
Insurance Transactions by U.S. Insurance Companies With Foreign Persons
AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: This document sets forth a proposed rule to institute a new
survey, BE-45, Quarterly Survey of Insurance Transactions by U.S.
Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons, to be conducted by the Bureau
of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce.
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 proposed survey is mandatory and will be conducted under the
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act. Data from
the proposed BE-45 survey are needed to monitor trade in insurance
services, analyze its impact on the U.S. and foreign economies, compile
and improve the U.S. economic accounts, support U.S. commercial policy
on insurance services, conduct trade promotion, improve the ability of
U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities, and for
other Government uses.
The proposed survey will cover the same insurance services
presently covered by the BE-48, Annual Survey of Reinsurance and Other
Insurance Transactions by U.S. Insurance Companies with Foreign
Persons, and auxiliary insurance services presently covered by the
Benchmark and Annual Surveys of Selected Services Transactions with
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons (Forms BE-20 and BE-22).
DATES: Comments on this proposed rule will receive consideration if
submitted in writing on or before November 24, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to the Office of the Chief,
International Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington DC, 20230. To ensure that
comments are received in a timely manner, please consider using one of
the following delivery methods: (1) Fax to (202) 606-5318; (2) deliver
by courier to U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis,
BE-50, Shipping and Receiving Section M100, 1441 L Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20005; or (3) e-mail to Obie.Whichard@bea.gov. Comments
will be available for public inspection in room 7006, 1441 L Street,
NW., between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Obie G. Whichard, Chief, International
Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; or via e-mail at
Obie.Whichard@bea.gov (Telephone (202) 606-9800).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This proposed rule amends 15 CFR Part 801 by
revising paragraph 801.9(c) to set forth the reporting requirements for
the BE-45, Quarterly Survey of Insurance Transactions by U.S. Insurance
Companies with Foreign Persons. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA),
U.S. Department of Commerce, will conduct the survey under the
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (Pub. L. 94-
472, 90 Stat. 2059, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108). Section 4(a) of the Act (22
U.S.C. 3103(a)) provides that the President shall, to the extent he
deems necessary and feasible, conduct a regular data collection program
to secure current information related to international investment and
trade in services and publish for the use of the general public and
United States Government agencies periodic, regular, and comprehensive
statistical information collected pursuant to this subsection. In
Section 3 of Executive Order 11961, as amended by Executive Order
12518, the President delegated his authority under the Act as concerns
international trade in services to the Secretary of Commerce, who has
redelegated it to BEA.
The major purposes of the survey are to monitor trade in insurance
services, analyze its impact on the U.S. and foreign economies, compile
and improve the U.S. economic accounts, support U.S. commercial policy
on insurance services, conduct trade promotion, and improve the ability
of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities.
As proposed, BEA will conduct the BE-45 survey on a quarterly basis
beginning with the first quarter of 2004. The survey will update the
data provided on the universe of insurance services transactions
between U.S. insurance companies and foreign persons. Reporting is
required from U.S. insurance companies whose covered transactions with
foreign persons exceeded $8 million for the previous fiscal year or are
expected to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year. In
addition, the reporting threshold for this survey is applied separately
to each of the eight individual types of transactions covered by the
survey rather than to the sum of the data for all eight types combined.
Insurance companies meeting these criteria must supply data on the
amount of their insurance transactions for each type of insurance
category, disaggregated by country. U.S. insurance companies that do
not meet the mandatory reporting requirements are requested to provide
voluntary estimates of their covered insurance transactions.
The transactions covered by this survey are: Reinsurance premiums
received, reinsurance premiums paid, reinsurance losses paid,
reinsurance losses recovered, primary insurance premiums received,
primary insurance losses paid, auxiliary insurance services receipts,
and auxiliary insurance services payments. (Auxiliary insurance
services include agent's commissions, insurance brokering and agency
services, insurance consulting services, evaluation and adjustment
services, actuarial services, salvage administration services, and
regulatory and monitoring services on indemnities and recovery
services.)
The first survey conducted under this proposed rule will cover
transactions in the first quarter 2004. BEA will send the
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survey to potential respondents in March of 2004; responses will be due
by May 15, 2004.
Executive Order 12866
This proposed rule is not significant for purposes of E.O. 12866.
Executive Order 13132
This proposed rule does not contain policies with Federalism
implications as that term is defined in E.O. 13132.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule contains a collection of information requirement
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and has been submitted to
the Office of Management and Budget for review under the PRA.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of the 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 PRA unless that collection displays a currently
valid Office of Management and Budget Control Number.
The BE-45 survey, as proposed, is expected to result in the filing
of approximately 210 reports on a quarterly basis, or 840 responses
annually, and the average annual respondent burden for completing the
survey is estimated at 8 hours. Thus, the total respondent burden of
the survey is estimated at about 6,720 hours (840 responses times 8
hours average burden). The actual burden will vary from reporter to
reporter, depending upon the number and variety of their insurance
transactions and the ease of assembling the data. This estimate
includes time for respondents to review the instructions, search
existing data sources, gather and maintain the data needed, and
complete and review the collection of information.
Comments are requested concerning: (a) Whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions 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; or faxed
(202-395-7245) or e-mailed (pbugg@omb.eop.gov) to the Office of
Management and Budget, O.I.R.A., (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 for the existing annual
survey of international insurance transactions has been comprised
mainly of major U.S. corporations. The proposed BE-45 quarterly survey
will be required from U.S. insurance companies whose covered
transactions with foreign persons exceeded $8 million for the previous
fiscal year or are expected to exceed that amount during the current
fiscal year. Thus, the exemption level will exclude most small
businesses from mandatory coverage. 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 insurance
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 statistics, international transactions, foreign trade,
penalties, reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
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;
E.O. 11961, 3 CFR, 1977 Comp., p. 86 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 801.9 is amended by revising paragraph (c)(5) to read as
follows:
Sec. 801.9 Reports required.
(c) Quarterly surveys. * * *
(5) BE-45, Quarterly Survey of Insurance Transactions by U.S.
Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons:
(i) A BE-45, Quarterly Survey of Insurance Transactions by U.S.
Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons, will be conducted covering
the first quarter of the 2004 calendar year and every quarter
thereafter.
(A) Who must report--(1) Mandatory reporting. Reports are required
from each U.S. insurance company whose covered transactions with
foreign persons exceeded $8 million for the previous fiscal year or are
expected to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year. This
threshold is applied separately to each of the eight individual types
of transactions covered by the survey rather than to the sum of the
data for all eight types combined. Quarterly reports for a year may be
required retroactively when it is determined that the exemption level
has been exceeded.
(2) Voluntary reporting. Reports are requested from each U.S.
insurance company whose covered transactions with foreign persons were
$8 million or less for the previous fiscal year and are not expected to
exceed the $8 million amount during the current fiscal year. Provision
of this information is voluntary. The estimates may be based on recall,
without conducting a detailed records search.
(B) Any person receiving a BE-45 survey form from BEA must complete
all relevant parts of the form and return the form to BEA. A person not
subject to the mandatory reporting requirement in paragraph
(c)(5)(i)(A) of this section and is not filing information on a
voluntary basis must only complete the ``Determination of reporting
status'' and the ``Certification'' sections of the survey. This
requirement is necessary to ensure compliance with the reporting
requirements and efficient administration of the survey by eliminating
unnecessary followup contact.
(C) Covered insurance transactions. The transactions covered by
this survey are: reinsurance premiums received, reinsurance premiums
paid, reinsurance losses paid, reinsurance losses recovered, primary
insurance premiums received, primary insurance losses paid, auxiliary
insurance services receipts, and auxiliary insurance services payments.
(Auxiliary insurance services include agent's commissions, insurance
brokering and agency services, insurance consulting services,
evaluation and adjustment services,
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actuarial services, salvage administration services, and regulatory and
monitoring services on indemnities and recovery services.)
(ii) [Reserved]
[FR Doc. 03-24130 Filed 9-22-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P