[Federal Register: August 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 166)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 52613-52615]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27au04-13]
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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. 040803225-4225-01]
RIN 0691-AA51
International Services Surveys: BE-80, Benchmark Survey of
Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services
Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons
AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: This proposed rule would amend regulations that set forth
reporting requirements for the BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial
Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.
The BE-80 survey is conducted once every five years by the Bureau
of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act and under the
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. The proposed benchmark
survey will be conducted for 2004. The data are needed to compile the
U.S. international transactions, national income and product, and
input-output accounts; support U.S. economic policy; assess U.S.
competitiveness in international trade in services; and improve the
ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market
opportunities.
The proposed rule would change the reporting of data on
international transactions in financial services by: Creating a new
category for brokerage services related to equities transactions;
collecting total receipts and total payments for financial services
transactions with affiliated foreign parties (that is, with foreign
affiliates and foreign parents); and revising the definition of a
financial services provider to more fully align the definition with the
North American Industry Classification System--2002.
DATES: Comments on this proposed rule will receive consideration if
submitted in writing on or before October 26, 2004.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0691-AA51, and
referencing the agency name (Bureau of Economic Analysis), by any of
the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: HTTP://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: obie.whichard@bea.gov.
Fax: Office of the Chief, International Investment
Division, (202) 606-5318.
Mail: Office of the Chief, International Investment
Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of
Commerce, Washington, DC 20230.
Hand Delivery/Courier: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau
of Economic Analysis (BE-50), Shipping and Receiving Section, room M-
100, 1441 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005.
Public Inspection: Comments may be inspected at BEA's offices, 1441
L Street, NW., Room 7006, between 8:30 a.m. and 5 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; phone (202) 606-9800.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This proposed rule would amend 15 CFR part
801.11 to set forth reporting requirements for the BE-80, Benchmark
Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial
Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. 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 the proposed and/or continuing information
collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
Description of Revisions
The BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions
Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign
Persons, is mandatory and is conducted every 5 years by the Bureau of
Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (22 U.S.C.
3101-3108)--hereinafter, ``the Act,'' and under Section 5408 of the
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 4908). BEA
will send the survey to potential respondents in January 2005, and a
response will be due by March 31, 2005. BEA proposes the following
changes to the Code of Federal Regulations: (1) Break the category for
brokerage services into two categories, by collecting information on
services related to equities transactions separately from other
brokerage services; (2) add questions covering total receipts and total
payments for transactions in financial services with affiliated foreign
parties (i.e., foreign affiliates and foreign parents); and (3) revise
the definition of a financial services provider to more fully align the
definition with the 2002 version of North American Industry
Classification System. The forms and instructions for the 2004
benchmark survey would be amended to reflect these proposed changes to
the Code of Federal Regulations.
Survey Background
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 (22 U.S.C. 3101-3108)--hereinafter, ``the Act,''
and under Section 5408 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of
1998 (15 U.S.C. 4908). 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 the 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 the authority under the Act as concerns
international trade in services to the
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Secretary of Commerce, who has redelegated it to BEA.
The major purposes of the survey are to compile the U.S.
international transactions, national income and product, and input-
output accounts; support U.S. international economic policy; assess
U.S. competitiveness in international trade in financial services; and
improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market
opportunities.
The survey is intended to cover the universe of financial services
transactions between U.S. financial services providers and foreign
persons. Reporting is required from U.S. financial services providers
who have sales to or purchases from unaffiliated foreign persons in all
financial services combined in excess of $3 million during the
reporting year. Financial services providers meeting these criteria
must supply data on the amount of their sales or purchases with
unaffiliated foreign persons for each type of covered service,
disaggregated by country, and must report transactions with foreign
affiliates and foreign parents at the global level for both total sales
and total purchases of the covered financial services. U.S. financial
services providers that have covered transactions of $3 million or less
during the reporting year are asked to provide voluntary estimates of
their total sales and total purchases of each type of financial
service.
Executive Order 12866
This proposed rule has been determined to be 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 review and approval by the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The requirement
has been submitted to OMB for approval as a reinstatement, with change,
of a previously approved collection for which approval has expired
under OMB control number 0608-0062.
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 Office of Management and Budget control number. The
survey, as proposed, is expected to result in the filing of reports
from approximately 375 respondents. The respondent reporting burden for
this collection of information is estimated to vary from less than four
hours to 150 hours, with an overall average burden of 8 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. Thus, the total respondent
burden of the survey is estimated at 3,000 hours (375 responses times 8
hours average burden).
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 either 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. Although BEA does not collect data on total sales or other
measures of the overall size of the businesses that respond to the
survey, historically the respondent universe has been comprised mainly
of major U.S. corporations. With the exemption level for the survey
being $3 million for all covered receipts or for all covered payments,
the reporting threshold for this survey is set at a level that will
exempt most small businesses from reporting. 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
International transactions, Economic statistics, Foreign trade,
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: July 30, 2004.
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 is revised 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, January 19,1977 (as amended by E.O. 12318, August
21, 1981, and E.O. 12518, June 3, 1985).
2. Section 801.11(b) and (c) are revised to read as follows:
(b) BE-80 definition of financial services provider. The definition
of financial services provider used for this survey is identical in
coverage to Sector 52--Finance and Insurance, and holding companies
that own or influence, and are principally engaged in making management
decisions for these firms (part of Sector 55--Management of Companies
and Enterprises, of the North American Industry Classification System,
United States, 2002). For example, companies and/or subsidiaries and
other separable parts of companies in the following industries are
defined as financial services providers: Depository credit
intermediation and related activities (including commercial banking,
savings institutions, credit unions, and other depository credit
intermediation); nondepository credit intermediation (including credit
card issuing, sales financing, and other nondepository credit
intermediation); activities related to credit intermediation (including
mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers, financial transactions
processing, reserve, and clearinghouse activities, and other activities
related to credit intermediation); securities and commodity contracts
intermediation and brokerage (including investment banking and
securities dealing, securities brokerage, commodity contracts dealing,
and commodity contracts brokerage); securities and commodity exchanges;
other financial investment activities (including miscellaneous
intermediation, portfolio
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management, investment advice, and all other financial investment
activities); insurance carriers; insurance agencies, brokerages, and
other insurance related activities; insurance and employee benefit
funds (including pension funds, health and welfare funds, and other
insurance funds); other investment pools and funds (including open-end
investment funds, trusts, estates, and agency accounts, real estate
investment trusts, and other financial vehicles); and holding companies
that own, or influence the management decisions of, firms principally
engaged in the aforementioned activities.
(c) Covered types of services. The BE-80 survey covers the
following types of financial services transactions (purchases and/or
sales) between U.S. financial services providers and unaffiliated
foreign persons: Brokerage services related to equities transactions;
other brokerage services; underwriting and private placement services;
financial management services; credit-related services, except credit
card services; credit card services; financial advisory and custody
services; securities lending services; electronic funds transfer
services; and other financial services. The BE-80 also covers total
receipts and total payments for the above-listed types of financial
services transactions with affiliated foreign parties (foreign
affiliates and foreign parents).
[FR Doc. 04-19561 Filed 8-26-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P