[Federal Register: May 5, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 86)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 23811-23813]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05my05-17]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Economic Analysis
15 CFR Part 801
RIN 0691-AA59
[Docket No. 050406094-5094-01]
International Services Surveys: Cancellation of Five Annual
Surveys
AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) plans to amend its
regulations to remove the reporting requirements for five annual
surveys covering international trade in services. The five annual
surveys that would be discontinued are: BE-36, BE-47, BE-48, BE-82, and
BE-93. BEA proposed to discontinue these surveys because they have been
replaced by quarterly surveys that collect essentially the same
information.
DATES: Comments on this proposed rule will receive consideration if
submitted in writing on or before 5 p.m., July 5, 2005.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0691-AA59, 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) 606-9890.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This proposed rule would amend 15 CFR Part
801 by revising Section 801.9(b) to remove the reporting requirements
for five annual surveys that collect data covering international trade
in services. The five surveys are:
BE-36, Foreign Airline Operators' Revenues and Expenses in the
United States.
BE-47, Annual Survey of Construction, Engineering, Architectural,
and Mining Services Provided by U.S. Firms to Unaffiliated Foreign
Persons.
BE-48, Annual Survey of Reinsurance and Other Insurance
Transactions by U.S. Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons.
BE-82, Annual Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between
U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.
BE-93, Annual Survey of Royalties, License Fees, and Other Receipts
and Payments for Intangible Rights Between U.S. and Unaffiliated
Foreign Persons.
The Department of Commerce invites the general public and other
Federal agencies to comment on the cancellation of the reporting
requirements for these surveys.
The Department is proposing to remove the reporting requirements
for these five annual surveys because the information collected is now
being collected on four separate quarterly surveys. Specifically, the
BE-9, Quarterly Survey of Foreign Airline Operators' Revenues and
Expenses in the United States, replaces the BE-36 survey; the BE-25,
Quarterly Survey of Transactions Between U.S. and Unaffiliated Foreign
Persons in Selected Services and in Intangible Assets, replaces the BE-
47 and BE-93 surveys; the BE-45, Quarterly Survey of Insurance
Transactions by U.S. Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons, replaces
the BE-48 survey; and the BE-85, Quarterly Survey of Financial Services
Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated
Foreign Persons, replaces the BE-82 survey. BEA began collecting data
on these quarterly surveys in 2004.
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.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The five annual surveys referenced above currently do not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Although the number of small entities that are affected by this
rulemaking is unknown because this type of information is not tracked
by BEA, the five surveys that BEA proposes to remove excludes most
small entities from mandatory reporting. Most small entities would not
be required to report the information collected in these surveys
because they do not meet the reporting threshold. The BE-36 is required
to be filed by U.S. offices, agents, or other representatives of
[[Page 23812]]
foreign airlines operating in the United States with total annual
covered revenues or total annual covered expenses incurred in the
United States of $500,000 or more. The BE-47 survey is required to be
filed by each U.S. person (other than U.S. Government agencies) if, for
all countries and all projects combined, the gross value of new
contracts received or gross operating revenues with unaffiliated
foreign persons is $1 million or more. The BE-48 annual survey is
required to be filed by U.S. persons who have engaged in reinsurance
transactions with foreign persons, or who have received premiums from,
or paid losses to, foreign persons in the capacity of primary insurers,
in excess of $2 million. The BE-82 survey is required to be filed by
U.S. persons who are financial services providers or intermediaries, or
whose consolidated U.S. enterprise includes a separately organized
subsidiary or part that is a financial services provider or
intermediary and who had transactions (either sales or purchases)
directly with unaffiliated foreign persons in all financial services
combined in excess of $10 million during the fiscal year covered by the
survey. The BE-93 is required to be filed by U.S. persons who have
entered into agreements with unaffiliated foreign persons to buy, sell,
or use intangible assets or proprietary rights, excluding oil royalties
and other natural resources (mining) royalties. A U.S. person is
required to report if total receipts or total payments for these
agreements are in excess of $2 million in the reporting year.
Since few small businesses are subject to mandatory reporting, the
elimination of the five annual surveys should have a negligible impact
on those businesses. Therefore, the Chief Counsel for Regulation
certified that this proposed rule will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The surveys that would be discontinued by this rule have been
approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the
Paperwork Reduction Act under the following OMB control numbers: 0608-
0013 (BE-36 survey), 0608-0015 (BE-47 survey), 0608-0016 (BE-48
survey), 0608-0017 (BE-93 survey), and 0608-0063 (BE-82 survey). OMB
approved the quarterly surveys under the following OMB control numbers:
0608-0068 (BE-9 survey); 0608-0067 (BE-25 survey); 0608-0066 (BE-45
survey); and 0608-0065 (BE-85 survey).
List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 801
International transactions, Economic statistics, Foreign trade,
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: March 30, 2005.
Rosemary D. Marcuss,
Acting 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. 86, as amended by E.O. 12318,
3 CFR, 1981 Comp., p. 173, and E.O. 12518, 3 CFR, 1985 Comp., p.
348.
2. Section 801.9(b)is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 801.9 Reports required.
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(b) Annual surveys. (1) BE-29, Foreign Ocean Carriers' Expenses in
the United States:
(i) Who must report. A BE-29 report is required from U.S. agents on
behalf of foreign ocean carriers transporting freight or passengers to
or from the United States. U.S. agents are steamship agents and other
persons representing foreign carriers in arranging ocean transportation
of freight and cargo between U.S. and foreign ports and in arranging
port services in the United States. Foreign carriers are foreign
persons that own or operate ocean going vessels calling at U.S. ports,
including VLCC tankers discharging petroleum offshore to pipelines and
lighter vessels destined for U.S. ports. They include carriers who own
or who operate their own or chartered (United States or foreign-flag)
vessels. They also include foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies
operating their own or chartered vessels as carriers for their own
accounts. Where the vessels under foreign registry are operated
directly by a U.S. carrier for its own account, the operations of such
vessels should be reported on Form BE-30, Ocean Freight Revenues and
Foreign Expenses of United States Carriers. The Bureau of Economic
Analysis may, in lieu of BE-29 reports required from foreign carriers'
U.S. agents, accept consolidated reports from foreign governments
covering the operations of their national shipping concerns when, in
the Bureau's discretion, such consolidated reports would provide the
required information. Where such reports are accepted, the individual
reports from foreign carriers' U.S. agents will not be required.
(ii) Exemption. Any U.S. person otherwise required to report is
exempted from reporting if the total number of port calls by foreign
vessels handled in the reporting period is less than forty or total
covered expenses are less than $250,000. For example, if an agent
handled less than 40 port calls in a calendar year, the agent is
exempted from reporting. If the agent handled 40 or more calls, the
agent must report unless covered expenses for all foreign carriers
handled by the agent were less than $250,000. The determination of
whether a U.S. person is exempt may be based on the judgment of
knowledgeable persons who can identify reportable transactions without
conducting a detailed manual records search.
(2) BE-22, Annual Survey of Selected Services Transactions With
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons:
(i) Who must report--(A) Mandatory reporting. A BE-22 report is
required from each U.S. person who had transactions (either sales or
purchases) in excess of $1,000,000 with unaffiliated foreign persons in
any of the covered services during the U.S. person's fiscal year. 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
transactions on a recall basis, with a reasonable degree of certainty
without conducting a detailed manual records search.
(B) Voluntary reporting. If, during the U.S. person's fiscal year,
the U.S. person's total transactions (either sales or purchases) in any
of the covered services is $1,000,000 or less, the U.S. person is
requested to provide an estimate of the total for each type of service.
Provision of this information is voluntary. The estimates may be
judgmental, that is, based on recall, without conducting a detailed
manual records search.
(C) Any U.S. person receiving a BE-22 survey form from BEA must
complete all relevant parts of the form and return the form to BEA. A
person that is not subject to the mandatory reporting requirement in
paragraph (b)(2)(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
[[Page 23813]]
compliance with the reporting requirements and efficient administration
of the survey by eliminating unnecessary followup contact.
(ii) Covered services. The covered services are: Advertising
services; auxiliary insurance services (by non-insurance companies
only); educational and training services; financial services (purchases
only by non-financial services providers); medical services, inpatient
(receipts only); medical services, other than inpatient (receipts
only); merchanting services (receipts only); mining services;
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); other trade-related services; performing arts,
sports, and other live performances, presentations, and events; primary
insurance premiums (payments only); primary insurance losses recovered;
sale or purchase of rights to natural resources, and lease bonus
payments; use or lease of rights to natural resources, excluding lease
bonus payments; waste treatment and depollution services; and other
private services (language translation services; salvage services;
security services; account collection services; satellite photography
and remote sensing/satellite imagery services; space transport
(includes satellite launches, transport of goods and people for
scientific experiments, and space passenger transport); and
transcription services).
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[FR Doc. 05-8976 Filed 5-4-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P