Federal Register: December 31, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 250)
DOCID: FR Doc 03-32124
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Economic Analysis Bureau
CFR Citation: 15 CFR Part 801
Docket ID: [Docket No. 030910228-3319-02]
RIN ID: RIN 0691-AA54
NOTICE: RULES
ACTION: International services surveys:
DOCUMENT ACTION: Final rule.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
International Services Surveys: BE-25, Quarterly Survey of Transactions With Unaffiliated Foreign Persons in Selected Services and in Intangible Assets
EFFECTIVE DATES: This final rule will be effective January 30, 2004.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
This final rule amends regulations that set forth the reporting requirements for the BE25, Quarterly Survey of Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons in Selected Services and in Intangible Assets.
The survey is mandatory and will be conducted under the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act. Data from the BE25 survey are needed to monitor trade in services and intangible assets, analyze its impact on the U.S. and foreign economies, compile and improve the U.S. economic accounts, support U.S. commercial policy on financial services, conduct trade promotion, improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities, and for other government and public uses.
The survey will cover some of the selected services presently covered by the BE22, Annual Survey of Selected Services Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. The selected services covered by the BE25 survey will be removed from the BE22 survey after the survey for 2003 is conducted. The BE22 survey will continue to be conducted for those services that were not moved to the BE25 survey. The BE25 survey will also cover construction, engineering, architectural, and surveying services presently covered by the BE47, Annual Survey of Construction, Engineering, Architectural, and Mining Services Provided by U.S. Firms to Unaffiliated Foreign Persons, and will cover the same transactions in intangible assets presently covered by the BE93, Annual Survey of Royalties, License Fees, and Other Receipts and Payments for Intangible Rights Between U.S. and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons; both of these annual surveys will be discontinued, following a final data collection for 2003.
SUMMARY:
BE-25; quarterly survey of transactions with unaffiliated foreign persons in selected services and in intangible assets,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
In the September 23, 2003, Federal Register, (68 FR 5520455206), BEA published a notice of proposed rulemaking setting forth reporting requirements for the BE25, Quarterly Survey of Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons in Selected Services and in Intangible Assets. No comments on the proposed rule were received. Thus, the proposed rule is adopted without change.
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. 31013108). 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 authority granted 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 services and in intangible assets, analyze the impact of this trade on the U.S. and foreign economies, compile and improve the U.S. economic accounts, support U.S. commercial policy on services and intangible assets, conduct trade promotion, and improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities.
The BE25 survey is mandatory and will be conducted under the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act. The first survey conducted under this rule will cover transactions in the first quarter of 2004. BEA will send the survey to potential respondents in March of 2004; responses will be due by May 15, 2004. The survey will update the data provided on the universe of transactions between U.S. and unaffiliated foreign persons in selected services and in intangible assets. Reporting is required from U.S. persons whose sales of covered services to unaffiliated foreign persons exceeded $6 million for the previous fiscal year or are expected to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year, or whose purchases of covered services from unaffiliated foreign persons exceeded $4 million for the previous fiscal year or are expected to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year. U.S. persons meeting any of these criteria must supply data on the amount of their sales or purchases for each type of covered service, disaggregated by country. U.S. persons that do not meet the mandatory reporting requirements are requested to provide voluntary estimates of their total sales and purchases of each type of covered service or intangible asset.
The BE25 survey will cover some of the selected services presently covered by the BE22, Annual Survey of Selected Services Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. It will also cover construction, engineering, architectural, and surveying services presently covered by the BE47, Annual Survey of Construction, Engineering, Architectural, and Mining Services Provided by U.S. Firms to Unaffiliated Foreign Persons, and will cover the same transactions in intangible rights presently covered by the BE93, Annual Survey of Royalties, License Fees, and Other Receipts and Payments for Intangible Rights Between U.S. and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons; both of these annual surveys will be discontinued, following a final data collection for 2003. Executive Order 12866
This final rule is 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
The collection of information required in this final rule has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act. 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 Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection displays a currently valid OMB Control Number; such a Control Number (06080067) will be displayed.
The BE25 survey is expected to result in the filing of reports
containing mandatory data from about 700 respondents on a quarterly basis, or
[[Page 75411]]
2,800 responses annually. The average burden for completing the BE25
is estimated to be 16 hours. Thus, the total respondent burden of the
survey is estimated at 44,800 hours (2,800 responses times 16 hours
average burden). The actual burden will vary from reporter to reporter,
depending upon the number and variety of their covered services
transactions and the ease of assembling the data. This estimate
includes time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data
sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.
Comments regarding the burden estimate or any aspect of this collection of information should be addressed to: Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BE1), U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230, and either faxed (2023957245) or emailed (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 provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), that this rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities as that term is defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The factual basis for the certification was published with the proposed rule. No comments were received regarding the economic impact of the rule. As a result, no final regulatory flexibility analysis was prepared.
List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 801
International transactions, Economic statistics, Foreign trade, Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: December 10, 2003.
J. Steven Landefeld,
Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, BEA amends 15 CFR part 801, as follows:
PART 801SURVEY 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. 31013108;
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 adding new paragraph (c)(6) to read as follows:
Sec. 801.9 Reports required.
* * * * *
(c) Quarterly surveys. * * *
(6) BE25, Quarterly Survey of Transactions with Unaffiliated
Foreign Persons in Selected Services and in Intangible Assets:
(i) A BE25, Quarterly Survey of Transactions with Unaffiliated
Foreign Persons in Selected Services and in Intangible Assets, 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. person that: (a) Had sales of covered services to
unaffiliated foreign persons that exceeded $6 million for the previous
fiscal year or are expected to exceed that amount during the current
fiscal year; or (b) had purchases of covered services from unaffiliated
foreign persons that exceeded $4 million for the previous fiscal year
or are expected to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year.
Because the thresholds are applied separately to sales and purchases,
the mandatory reporting requirement may apply only to sales, only to
purchases, or to both sales and purchases. 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.
person that had sales of covered services to unaffiliated foreign
persons that were $6 million or less for the previous fiscal year and
are expected to be less than or equal to that amount during the current
fiscal year, or had purchases of covered services from unaffiliated
foreign persons that were $4 million or less for the previous fiscal
year and are expected to be less than or equal to that 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. Because these thresholds apply separately to sales and
purchases, voluntary reporting may apply only to sales, only to purchases, or to both.
(B) Any person receiving a BE25 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
(c)(6)(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 services and intangible assets. The services covered by
this survey are: Accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services;
computer and data processing services; construction services; foreign
expenses related to construction projects; data base and other
information services; engineering, architectural, and surveying
services; industrial engineering services; industrialtype maintenance,
installation, alteration, and training services; legal services;
management, consulting, and public relations services; operational
leasing services; research, development, and testing services; and
telecommunication services. The intangible assets covered by this
survey are rights related to: industrial processes and products; books,
compact discs, audio tapes and other copyrighted material and
intellectual property; trademarks, brand names, and signatures;
performances and events prerecorded on motion picture film and
television tape, including digital recording; broadcast and recording
of live performances and events; general use computer software;
business format franchising fees; and other intangible assets, including indefeasible rights of users.
(ii) [Reserved]
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 0332124 Filed 123003; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 351006P
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Obie G. Whichard, Chief, International Investment Division (BE50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; or via the Internet at obie.whichard@bea.gov (telephone (202) 6069890).