[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 167 (Tuesday, August 28, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 45219-45221]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-21646]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis

15 CFR Part 801

[Docket No. 010724189-1189-01]
RIN 0691-AA41


International Services Surveys: BE-20, Benchmark Survey of 
Selected Services Transactions With Unaffiliated Foreign Persons

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: This document sets forth proposed rules to amend the reporting 
requirements for the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services 
Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.
    The BE-20 survey is conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis 
(BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the International Investment 
and Trade in Services Survey Act. The data are needed to support U.S. 
trade policy initiatives; compile the U.S. international transactions, 
national income and product, and input-output accounts; assess U.S. 
competitiveness in international trade in services; and improve the 
ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market 
opportunities.
    BEA proposes to raise the exemption level for the BE-20 survey to 
$1 million in covered sales or purchases transactions from $500,000 on 
the previous (1996) survey. Raising the exemption level will reduce 
respondent burden, particularly for small companies.
    The proposed rule also: creates new categories for other trade-
related services, auxiliary insurance services, and waste treatment and 
depollution services; adds coverage of transcription services to 
``other'' private services; and amends several other service 
categories. These proposed changes will close some statistical gaps in 
the coverage of cross-border services transactions and bring the survey 
into better compliance with international standards for compilation of 
statistics on trade in services.

DATES: Comments on these proposed rules will receive consideration if 
submitted in writing on or before October 29, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Mail comments to the Office of the Chief, International 
Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Washington DC 20230, or hand deliver them to 
room M-100, 1441 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005. Comments will be 
available for public inspection in room 7005, 1441 L Street, NW., 
between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: R. David Belli, Chief, International 
Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; phone (202) 606-9800.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These proposed rules amend 15 CFR part 801 
by revising Section 801.10 to set forth revised reporting requirements 
for the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services Transactions with 
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. The survey is conducted by the Bureau of 
Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the 
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (P.L. 94-472, 
90 Stat. 2059, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108, as amended). Section 3103(a) of the 
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 * * *''. 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 BE-20 is a benchmark survey of selected services transactions 
with

[[Page 45220]]

unaffiliated foreign persons. The data are needed to support U.S. trade 
policy initiatives; compile the U.S. international transactions, 
national income and product, and input-output accounts; assess U.S. 
competitiveness in international trade in services; and improve the 
ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market 
opportunities.
    Under the proposed rule, reporting in the BE-20 benchmark survey 
would be required from all U.S. persons whose covered services 
transactions (either sales or purchases) were in excess $1 million with 
unaffiliated foreign persons during the reporting year. The proposed 
exemption level is an increase from the current level of $500,000. The 
increase is intended to reduce respondent burden, particularly for 
small companies, but will not make the published results any less 
comprehensive. Respondents that fall below the proposed $1 million 
dollar exemption level account for a small share of transactions and 
will, nonetheless, be required to indicate their total receipts and 
payments for all services covered by the survey combined in claiming 
exemption, and to list the primary service provided. BEA will allocate 
these small amounts by country and by type of service, based on the 
distribution of reported transactions, for inclusion in the published 
totals. Thus, the estimates will cover the universe of transactions.

Executive Order 12866

    These proposed rules have been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of E.O. 12866.

Executive Order 13132

    These proposed rules do not contain policies with Federalism 
implications sufficient to warrant preparation of a Federalism 
assessment under E.O. 13132.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    These proposed rules contain a collection of information 
requirement subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. A request for 
review of the forms has been submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget under section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
    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 OMB Control Number.
    Public reporting burden for this collection of information is 
estimated to vary from less than four hours to 500 hours, with an 
overall average burden of 12 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 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 to the Office of Management and 
Budget, O.I.R.A., Paperwork Reduction Project 0608-0058, Washington, DC 
20503 (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.
    While the survey does not collect data on total sales or other 
measures of the overall size of businesses that respond to the survey, 
historically the respondent universe has been comprised mainly of major 
U.S. corporations. With the proposed increase in the exemption level 
for the survey from $500,000 to $1 million in covered receipts or 
payments, even fewer small businesses can be expected to be subject to 
reporting than in the past. 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

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

    Dated: July 19, 2001.
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 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. 860 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 801.10 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 801.10  Rules and Regulations for the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of 
Selected Services Transactions With Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.

    The BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services Transactions with 
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons, will be conducted covering companies' 
2001 fiscal year and every fifth year thereafter. All legal 
authorities, provisions, definitions, and requirements contained in 
Secs. 801.1 through 801.9(a) are applicable to this survey. Additional 
rules and regulations for the BE-20 survey are given in this section. 
More detailed instructions and descriptions of the individual types of 
services covered are given on the report from itself.
    (a) The BE-20 survey consists of two parts and seven schedules. 
Part I requests information needed to determine whether a report is 
required and which schedules apply. Part II requests information about 
the reporting entity. Each of the seven schedules covers one or more 
types of services and is to be completed only if the U.S. Reporter has 
transactions of the type(s) covered by the particular schedule.
    (b) Who must report. (1) Mandatory reporting. A BE-20 report is 
required from each person who had transactions (either sales or 
purchases) in excess of $1 million with unaffiliated foreign persons in 
any of the services listed in paragraph (c) of this section during its 
fiscal year covered by the survey.
    (i) 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

[[Page 45221]]

transactions on a recall basis, with a reasonable degree of certainty, 
without conducting a detailed records search. Because the $1 million 
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.
    (ii) Reporters who file pursuant to this mandatory reporting 
requirement must complete Parts I and II of Form BE-20 and all 
applicable schedules. The total amounts of transactions applicable to a 
particular schedule are to be entered in the appropriate column(s) on 
line 1 of the schedule. In addition, except for sales of merchanting 
services, these amounts must be distributed below line 1 to the 
country(ies) involved in the transactions). For sales of merchanting 
services, the data by individual foreign country are not required to be 
reported, although these data may be reported voluntarily.
    (iii) Application of the $1 million exemption level to each covered 
service is indicated on the schedule for that particular service. It 
should be noted that an item other than sales or purchases may be used 
as the measure of a given service for purposes of determining whether 
the threshold for mandatory reporting of the service is exceeded.
    (2) Voluntary reporting. If, during the fiscal year covered, the 
U.S. person's total transaction (either sales or purchases) in any of 
the types of services listed in paragraph (c) of this section are $1 
million or less, the U.S. person is requested to provide an estimate of 
the total for the each type of service.
    (i) Provision of this information is voluntary. The estimates may 
be judgmental, that is, based on recall, without conducting a detailed 
manual records search. Because the $1 million threshold applies 
separately to sales and purchases, the voluntary reporting option may 
apply only to sales, only to purchases, or to both sales and purchases.
    (ii) The amounts of transactions reportable on a particular 
schedule are to be entered in the appropriate column(s) in the 
voluntary reporting section of the schedule; they are not required to 
be disaggregated by country. Reporters filing voluntary information 
only should also complete Parts I and II of the form.
    (3) Any U.S. person that receives the BE-20 survey form from BEA, 
but is not reporting data in either the mandatory or voluntary section 
of the form, must nevertheless complete and return the Exemption Claim 
included with the form to BEA. This requirement is necessary to ensure 
compliance with reporting requirements and efficient administration of 
the Act by eliminating unnecessary followup contact.
    (c) Covered types of services. Only the services listed in this 
paragraph are covered by the BE-20 survey. Other services, such as 
transportation and reinsurance, are not covered. Covered services are 
Agricultural services; research, development, and testing services; 
management, consulting, and public relations service; management of 
health care facilities; accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services; 
legal services; educational and training services; mailing, 
reproduction, and commercial art; employment agencies and temporary 
help supply services; industrial engineering services; industrial-type 
maintenance, installation, alteration, and training services; 
performing arts, sports, and other live performances, presentations, 
and events; sale and purchase of rights to natural resources, and lease 
bonus payments; use or lease of rights to natural resources, excluding 
lease bonus payments; 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); premiums paid on purchases of primary insurance; 
losses recovered on purchases of primary insurance; construction 
services (purchases only); engineering, architectural, and surveying 
services (purchases only); mining services (purchases only); 
merchanting services (sales only); financial services (purchases only, 
by companies or parts of companies that are not financial services 
providers); advertising services; computer and data processing 
services; data base and other information services; telecommunications 
services; operational leasing services; other trade-related services; 
auxiliary insurance services; waste treatment and depollution services; 
and ``other'' private services. ``Other'' private services covers 
transactions in the following types of services: Language translation 
services, salvage services, security services, collection services, 
satellite photography and remote sensing/satellite imagery services, 
transport (includes satellite launches, transport of goods and people 
for scientific experiments, and space passenger transport), and 
transcription services.

[FR Doc. 01-21646 Filed 8-27-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-M