[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 238 (Tuesday, December 11, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 63918-63920]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30508]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis

15 CFR Part 801

[Docket No. 010724189-1276-02]
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: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule revises regulations 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.
    The rule raises the exemption level for the 2001 benchmark 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 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 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.
    The changes to services that have been reported in past benchmark 
surveys and the types of new services to be reported reflect BEA's 
experience in collecting data on selected services transactions over 
the past 15 years and the growth of new services in the global economy.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This final rule will be effective January 10, 2002.

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: In the August 28, 2001, Federal Register, 
volume 66, No. 167, 66 FR 45219-45221, BEA published a notice or 
proposed rulemaking setting forth revised reporting requirements for 
the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of Selected Services Transactions with 
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. No comments on the proposed rule were 
received. Thus, this final rule is the same as the proposed rule. This 
final rule amends 15 CFR part 801 by revising Sec. 801.10 to set forth 
revised reporting requirements for the BE-20, Benchmark Survey of 
Selected Services Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. 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 (Pub. 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 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; 
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 will conduct the BE-20 benchmark survey for the reporting year 
2001. The BE-29 estimates will cover the universe of transactions 
covered by the survey. Reporting is required from U.S. persons who have 
sales to or purchases from unaffiliated foreign persons in a covered 
service in excess of $1 million during the reporting year. Respondents 
meeting these criteria must supply data on the amount of their sales or 
purchases for each covered type of service, disaggregated by country. 
Respondents that have covered transactions of $1 million or less during 
the reporting year are asked to provide voluntary estimates of their 
total sales or purchases of each type of covered service.

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 sufficient to warrant preparation of a Federalism 
assessment under 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 current valid OMB Control Number; such a Control 
Number (0608-0058) has been displayed.
    The survey is expected to result in the filing of reports, 
containing mandatory or voluntary data, from about 1,100 respondents. 
The average burden for completing the BE-20--both the mandatory and 
voluntary sections--is estimated to be 12 hours. Thus, the total 
respondent burden of the survey is estimated at 13,200 hours (1,100 
respondents times 12 hours average burden). The actual burden will vary 
from to reporter, depending upon the number and variety of their 
services transactions and the ease of assembling the data. Thus, it may 
range from 4 hours for a reporter that has a small number and variety 
of transactions and easily accessible data, or that reports only in the 
voluntary section of the form, to 500 hours for a very large reporter 
that engages in a large number and variety of services transactions and 
has difficulty in locating and assembling the required data. This 
estimate includes time for reviewing instructions, searching existing 
data

[[Page 63919]]

sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and 
reviewing the collection of information.
    Comments 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, 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 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 
information collection excludes most small businesses from mandatory 
reporting. U.S. persons with reinsurance premiums, received or paid; 
reinsurance losses, paid or recovered; primary insurance premiums 
received; or primary insurance losses paid, with foreign persons in 
excess of $2 million during the reporting year; the exemption level for 
the previous survey, covering 2000, was $1 million. Thus, the exemption 
level will exclude most small businesses from mandatory coverage. Of 
those smaller businesses that must report, most will tend to have 
specialized operations and activities, so they will likely report only 
one type of reinsurance of other insurance transaction, often with a 
single partner country; therefore, the burden on them should be small.

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 801

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

    Dated: November 13, 2001.
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 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 form 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 judgement 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 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 transaction(s). 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 transactions (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 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 services; 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;

[[Page 63920]]

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 account collection 
services, satellite photograph 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.

[FR Doc. 01-30508 Filed 12-10-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-M