[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 236 (Thursday, December 9, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 76630-76631]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-30970]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Economic Analysis
15 CFR Part 806
[Docket No. 100202061-0573-02]
RIN 0691--AA75
Direct Investment Surveys: BE-577, Quarterly Survey of U.S.
Direct Investment Abroad--Direct Transactions of U.S. Reporter With
Foreign Affiliate
AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.
ACTION: Final Rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This final rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA), Department of Commerce, to set forth the reporting
requirements for BE-577 quarterly survey of U.S. direct investment
abroad. BEA conducts the survey quarterly and obtains sample data on
transactions and positions between U.S.-owned foreign business
enterprises and their U.S. parents.
Through this rule, BEA will modify items on the survey form and the
reporting criteria. Changes will bring the BE-577 forms and related
instructions into conformity with the 2009 BE-10, Benchmark Survey of
U.S. Direct Investment Abroad, and will raise the threshold for
reporting.
DATES: The final rule will be effective January 10, 2011.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David H. Galler, Chief, Direct
Investment Division, BE-50, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; phone (202) 606-9835 or
e-mail [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 1, 2010, BEA published a notice
of proposed rulemaking that set forth revised reporting criteria for
the BE-577, Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad--Direct
Transactions of U.S. Reporter With Foreign Affiliate, (75 FR 53611-
53612). No comments on the proposed rule were received. Thus, the
proposed rule is adopted without change. This final rule amends 15 CFR
part 806.14 to set forth the reporting requirements for the BE-577
quarterly survey of U.S. direct investment abroad.
The BE-577 survey is a mandatory quarterly survey of U.S. direct
investment abroad conducted by BEA under the International Investment
and Trade in Services Survey Act, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108 (the Act). BEA
will send BE-577 survey forms to potential respondents each quarter;
responses will be due within 30 days after the end of each quarter,
except for the final quarter of the fiscal year when reports will be
due within 45 days of the end of the quarter.
Description of Changes
BEA is making a number of changes to the BE-577 survey. BEA is
increasing the exemption level for reporting on Form BE-577 to $60
million and will discontinue collecting information on transactions
classified as permanent debt and related interest payments between U.S.
parent companies that are banks, bank holding companies, or financial
holding companies and their bank foreign affiliates. Recent changes in
international standards call for the bank permanent debt previously
classified as direct investment to be classified as other investment,
for which statistics are collected by the Treasury Department through
the Treasury International Capital System. BEA is
[[Page 76631]]
changing the title of Form BE-577 to ``Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct
Investment Abroad--Direct Transactions of U.S. Reporter With Foreign
Affiliate.''
The exemption level was last changed in 2006 following the 2004
Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad. The exemption level
is stated in terms of the foreign affiliate's assets, sales, and net
income. U.S. parent companies must report data for their foreign
affiliates if the affiliates have total assets, sales or gross
operating revenues, or net income greater than $60 million (positive or
negative). BEA expects about 14,500 survey forms to be reported each
quarter, compared to 17,500 under the previous threshold for filing.
About 3,000 affiliates--accounting for less than 1.5 percent of the
statistics for income and direct investment position--will drop out of
the sample and will be estimated based on reports received on the
benchmark survey.
Survey Background
BEA, U.S. Department of Commerce, conducts the BE-577 survey under
the authority of the International Investment and Trade in Services
Survey Act (22 U.S.C. 3101-3108), hereinafter, ``the Act.'' Section
4(a) of the Act (22. U.S.C. 3103(a)) provides that, with respect to
United States direct investment abroad, the President shall, to the
extent he deems necessary and feasible, conduct a regular data
collection program to secure current information on international
capital flows and other information related to international investment
and trade in services including (but not limited to) such information
that may be necessary for computing and analyzing the United States
balance of payments, the employment and taxes of United States parents
and affiliates, and the international investment and trade in services
position of the United States.
Executive Order 12866
This final rule has been determined to be not significant for
purposes of E.O. 12866.
Executive Order 13132
This final rule does not contain policies with Federalism
implications as that term is defined in E.O. 13132.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This collection-of-information in this final rule has been
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). OMB approved the information collection
under control number 0608-0004.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, no person is
required to respond to, nor shall any 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 OMB control number.
The BE-577 survey is expected to result in the filing of about
14,500 foreign affiliate reports by an estimated 1,750 U.S. parent
companies. A parent company must file one form per affiliate. The
respondent burden for this collection of information is estimated to
vary from one-half hour to three hours per response, with an average of
one hour per response, including time for reviewing instructions,
searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data
needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.
Because reports are filed 4 times per year, 58,000 responses annually
are expected. Thus, the total annual respondent burden of the survey is
estimated at 58,000 hours (14,500 respondents filing 4 times per year
multiplied by 1 hour average burden). The survey's estimated respondent
burden of 58,000 hours compares with a total respondent burden of
62,000 hours in the current OMB inventory of burden hours for this
collection of information. The reduction in burden is a result of
raising the threshold for filing.
Written comments regarding the burden-hour estimates or any other
aspect of the collection-of-information requirements contained in the
final rule should be sent both to the Bureau of Economic Analysis via
mail to U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis,
Office of the Chief, Direct Investment Division, BE-50, Washington, DC
20230; via e-mail at [email protected]; or by FAX at (202) 606-5311,
and to the Office of Management and Budget, O.I.R.A., Paperwork
Reduction Project 0608-0004, Attention PRA Desk Officer for BEA, via e-
mail at [email protected], or by FAX at (202) 395-7245.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Chief Counsel for Regulation, Department of Commerce, has
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business
Administration (SBA), under the provisions of the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), that this final rule will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The factual basis for the certification was published in the proposed
rule and is not repeated here. No comments were received regarding the
certification or the economic impact of the rule more generally. No
final regulatory flexibility analysis was prepared.
List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 806
Economic statistics, International transactions, Penalties,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, U.S. investment abroad.
Dated: November 18, 2010.
Brian C. Moyer,
Acting Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, BEA amends 15 CFR Part 806
as follows:
PART 806--DIRECT INVESTMENT SURVEYS
0
1. The authority citation for 15 CFR Part 806 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108; E.O. 11961 (3
CFR, 1977 Comp., p. 86), as amended by E.O. 12318 (3 CFR, 1981
Comp., p. 173); E.O. 12518 (3 CFR, 1985 Comp., p. 348).
0
2. Section 806.14(e) is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 806.14 U.S. direct investment abroad.
* * * * *
(e) Quarterly report form. BE-577, Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct
Investment Abroad--Direct Transactions of U.S. Reporter With Foreign
Affiliate: One report is required for each foreign affiliate exceeding
an exemption level of $60 million except that a report need not be
filed by a U.S. Reporter to report direct transactions with one of its
foreign affiliates in which it does not hold a direct equity interest
unless an intercompany balance for the quarter exceeds $1 million.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2010-30970 Filed 12-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P