[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 220 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57335-57337]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-28229]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis

15 CFR Part 801

[Docket No. 95-0710174-5248-02]
RIN 0691-AA26


International Services Surveys: BE-82 Annual Survey of Financial 
Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and 
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: These final rules institute a new international services 
survey, the BE-82, Annual Survey of Financial Services Transactions 
Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign 
Persons, to be conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. 
Department of Commerce. The survey will update information collected on 
the quinquennial BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services 
Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated 
Foreign Persons, which was first conducted for 1994. Together, the two 
surveys will produce continuous annual time series of data on financial 
services that are out of scope of other international services surveys. 
The information is needed, among other purposes, to support trade 
policy initiatives, including trade negotiations, on financial services 
and to compile the U.S. balance of payments and national income and 
product accounts.
    The survey will be conducted under the International Investment and 
Trade in Services Survey Act and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness 
Act of 1988. The first survey will cover 1995.

DATES: These rules will be effective December 15, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

[[Page 57336]]

Betty L. Barker, Chief, International Investment Division (BE-50), 
Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, 
DC 20230; phone (202) 606-9805.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the August 8, 1995 Federal Register, 
volume 60, No. 152, 60 FR 40336, BEA published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking setting forth reporting requirements for a new survey, the 
BE-82, Annual Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. 
Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. No 
comments on the proposed rules were received. As a result, the final 
rules are the same as the proposed rules.
    These final rules amend existing 15 CFR 801.9 to implement the new 
survey. The survey will be conducted by BEA under the International 
Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (Pub. L. 94-472, 90 Stat. 
2059, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108, as amended) and the Omnibus Trade and 
Competitiveness Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-418, 15 U.S.C. 4908). Section 
3103(a) of the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey 
Act provides that ``The President shall, to the extent he deems 
necessary and feasible--* * * (1) conduct a regular data collection 
program to secure current information * * * related to international 
investment and trade in services * * * ; and (5) 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 the authority 
under the Act as concerns international trade in services to the 
Secretary of Commerce, who has redelegated it to BEA. The Omnibus Trade 
and Competitiveness Act of 1988 directs that ``The Secretary (of 
Commerce) shall ensure that * * * there is included in the Data Bank 
information on service sector activity that is as complete and timely 
as information on economic activity in the merchandise sector. The 
Secretary shall undertake a new benchmark survey of services 
transactions, including transactions with respect to * * * banking 
services; (and) brokerage services. * * * The Secretary shall (also) 
provide, not less than once a year, comprehensive information on the 
service sector of the economy.''
    The major purposes of the survey are to provide the information on 
financial services needed in monitoring U.S. services trade, analyzing 
its effects on the U.S. economy, formulating U.S. international trade 
policy, supporting bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, 
compiling the U.S. balance of payments and national income and product 
accounts, developing U.S. international price indexes for services, 
assessing U.S. competitiveness in international trade in services, and 
improving the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate 
foreign market opportunities.
    The BE-82 survey will be conducted in years in which the BE-80 
benchmark survey, or census, is not conducted; the first BE-80 survey 
was for 1994 and the first BE-82 survey will be for 1995. The BE-82 
survey will update the data provided on the universe of financial 
services transactions between U.S. financial services providers and 
unaffiliated foreign persons obtained in the BE-80 survey. It covers 
the same types of financial services as the BE-80 survey, but the 
exemption level below which reporting is not required is $5 million, 
compared with $1 million in the BE-80 survey. Thus, reporting in the 
BE-82 is required from U.S. financial services providers who have sales 
to or purchases from unaffiliated foreign persons in all covered 
financial services combined in excess of $5 million during the 
reporting year. Those financial services providers meeting this 
criteria must apply data on the amount of their sales or purchases of 
each covered type of service, disaggregated by country. U.S. financial 
services providers that have covered transactions of $5 million or less 
during the reporting year are asked to provide, on a voluntary basis, 
estimates only of their total sales or purchases of each type of 
financial service.

Executive Order 12612

    These final rules do not contain policies with Federalism 
implications sufficient to warrant preparation of a Federalism 
assessment under E.O. 12612.

Executive Order 12866

    These final rules have been determined to be not sufficient for 
purposes of E.O. 12866.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    The collection of information requirement in these final rules has 
been approved by OMB (OMB No. 0608-0063).
    Public reporting burden for this collection of information is 
estimated to vary from 4 to 150 hours, with an overall average burden 
of 7.5 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. 
Comments from the public regarding the burden estimate or any other 
aspect of this collection of information should be addressed to: 
Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BE-1), U.S. Department of 
Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; and to the Office of Management and 
Budget, Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for the 
Department of Commerce.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and 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 these final rules 
will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities. The exemption level for the survey excludes most small 
businesses from mandatory reporting. Reporting is required only if 
total sales or total purchases transactions in financial services with 
unaffiliated foreign persons by U.S. financial services providers 
exceed $5 million during the year. In addition, international business 
tends to be conducted mainly by the larger companies in a given 
industry; in the financial services industry, this is particularly 
true, because of the high degree of consolidation that has occurred in 
that industry in the United States during the past several years. In 
any event, small businesses tend to have specialized operations and 
activities, so those with reportable transactions will likely not have 
significant amounts of data to report; therefore, the burden on them 
will be relatively small.

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 801

    Balance of payments, Economic statistics, Foreign trade, Penalties, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: October 4, 1995.
J. Steven Landefeld,
Acting Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, BEA amends 15 CFR part 
801, as follows:

PART 801--[AMENDED]

    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; 
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, 

[[Page 57337]]
1981 Comp., p. 173, and E.O. 12518, 3 CFR, 1985 Comp., p. 348.

    2. Section 801.9 is amended by adding paragraph (b)(7) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 801.9  Reports required.

* * * * *
    (b) Annual surveys. * * *
    (7) BE-82, Annual Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between 
U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons:
    (i) A BE-82, Annual Survey of Financial Services Transactions 
Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign 
Persons, will be conducted covering companies' 1995 fiscal year and 
every year thereafter except when a BE-80, Benchmark Survey of 
Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services 
Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons, is conducted (see 
Sec. 801.11). All legal authorities, provisions, definitions, and 
requirements contained in Sec. 801.1 through Sec. 801.8 are applicable 
to this survey. Additional rules and regulations for the BE-82 survey 
are given in paragraphs (b)(7)(i)(A) through (D) of this section. More 
detailed instructions are given on the report form itself.
    (A) Who must report.--(1) Mandatory reporting. Reports are required 
from each U.S. person who is a financial services provider or 
intermediary, 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 $5,000,000 during its fiscal year 
covered by the survey. The $5,000,000 threshold should be applied to 
financial services transactions with unaffiliated foreign persons by 
all parts of the consolidated U.S. enterprise combined that are 
financial services providers or intermediaries. Because the $5,000,000 
threshold applies separately to sales and purchases, the mandatory 
reporting requirement may apply only to sales, only to purchases, or to 
both sales and purchases.
    (i) The determination of whether a U.S. financial services provider 
or intermediary 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.
    (ii) Reporters who file pursuant to this mandatory reporting 
requirement must provide data on total sales and/or purchases of each 
of the covered types of financial services transactions and must 
disaggregate the totals by country.
    (2) Voluntary reporting. If, during the fiscal year covered, sales 
or purchases of financial services by a firm that is a financial 
services provider or intermediary, or by a firm's subsidiaries or parts 
combined that are financial services providers or intermediaries, are 
$5,000,000 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. Because the $5,000,000 threshold applies separately to sales 
and purchases, this voluntary reporting option may apply only to sales, 
only to purchases, or to both sales and purchases.
    (B) BE-82 definition of financial services provider. The definition 
of a financial services provider used for this survey is the same as 
that used for the BE-80 benchmark survey, as defined in Sec. 801.11(b).
    (C) Covered types of services. The BE-82 survey covers the same 
types of financial services transactions that are covered by the BE-80 
benchmark survey, as listed in Sec. 801.11(c).
    (D) What to file. (1) The BE-82 survey consists of Forms BE-82(A) 
and BE-82(B). Before completing a Form BE-82(B), a consolidated U.S. 
enterprise (including the top parent and all of its subsidiaries and 
parts combined) must complete Form BE-82(A) to determine its reporting 
status. If the enterprise is subject to the mandatory reporting 
requirement, or if it is exempt from the mandatory reporting 
requirement but chooses to report data voluntarily, either a separate 
Form BE-82(B) may be filed for each separately organized financial 
services subsidiary or part of the consolidated U.S. enterprise, or a 
single BE-82(B) may be filed, representing the sum of covered 
transactions by all financial services subsidiaries or parts of the 
enterprise combined.
    (2) Reporters that receive the BE-82 survey from BEA, but that are 
not reporting data in either the mandatory or voluntary section of any 
Form BE-82(B), must return the Exemption Claim, attached to Form BE-
82(A), to BEA.
    (ii) [Reserved]

[FR Doc. 95-28229 Filed 11-14-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-EA-M