[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 55404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-20619]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis


Proposed Data Sharing Activity

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of determination.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will provide to the 
Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) for statistical purposes 
exclusively data collected in its surveys of foreign direct investment 
(FDI) in the United States. In accordance with the requirement of 
Section 524(d) of the Confidential Information Protection and 
Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA), we provided the 
opportunity for public comment on this data-sharing action (see the May 
18, 2004 edition of the Federal Register (69 FR 28119)). The Census 
Bureau will link the FDI data, primarily those collected in the 
Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States--
2002, to establishments in the Census Bureau's 2002 Economic Census and 
Business Register. Through the use of these shared data, the Census 
Bureau will augment and improve its establishment data on all U.S. 
businesses from the Economic Census by separately identifying data for 
the establishments of foreign-owned U.S. companies for specific 
detailed industries, and by identifying data quality issues arising 
from reporting differences in the Census Bureau and BEA surveys. The 
Census Bureau and BEA will publish non-confidential aggregate reports 
(public use) that have cleared BEA and Census Bureau disclosure review. 
Disclosure review is a process conducted to verify that the data to be 
released do not reveal any confidential information.

DATES: BEA will make the data collected from the Benchmark Survey of 
Foreign Direct Investment in the United States--2002 available to the 
Census Bureau on September 14, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information on 
this program should be directed to Christopher Emond, Chief, Special 
Surveys Branch, International Investment Division, Bureau of Economic 
Analysis (BE-50), Washington, DC 20230, by phone on (202) 606-9826, by 
fax on 202-606-5318, or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    CIPSEA (Pub. L. 107-347, Title V) and the International Investment 
and Trade in Services Survey Act (Pub. L. 94-472, 22 United States Code 
(U.S.C.) 3101-3108) allow BEA and the Census Bureau to share certain 
business data for exclusively statistical purposes. Section 524(d) of 
the CIPSEA requires a Federal Register notice announcing the intent to 
share data (allowing 60 days for public comment).
    On May 18, 2004 (69 FR 28119), BEA published in the Federal 
Register a notice of this proposed data-sharing activity and request 
for comment on the subject. BEA did not receive any comments.

Shared Data

    BEA will provide the Census Bureau with data collected from the FDI 
surveys. The agreement also calls for the Census Bureau to share data 
collected from the 2002 Economic Census and Business Register. The 
Census Bureau issued a separate notice addressing this issue (69 FR 
39408, June 30, 2004).
    BEA will provide the Census Bureau with only those data items 
necessary to link records from the FDI surveys with the establishments 
from the Business Register. The Census Bureau will use these data for 
statistical purposes exclusively. Through record linkage, the Census 
Bureau will augment and improve its establishment data on all U.S. 
businesses from the Economic Census by separately identifying data for 
the establishments of foreign-owned U.S. companies for specific 
detailed industries, and by identifying data quality issues arising 
from reporting differences in the Census Bureau and BEA surveys.

Statistical Purposes for the Shared Data

    Information collected from the FDI surveys are used to estimate the 
financial and operating data, direct investment positions, and the 
international transactions of U.S. affiliates of foreign companies. 
Statistics from these surveys are published in articles in the Survey 
of Current Business and in separate data publications. All data are 
collected under sections 3101-3108, of Title 22 U.S.C.

Data Access and Confidentiality

    Title 22, U.S.C. 3104 protects the confidentiality of these data. 
The data may be seen only by persons sworn to uphold the 
confidentiality of the information. Access to the shared data will be 
restricted to specifically authorized personnel and will be provided 
for statistical purposes only. The results of this project are subject 
to disclosure protection. All Census Bureau employees with access to 
these data will become BEA Special Sworn Employees--meaning that they, 
under penalty of law, must uphold the data's confidentiality. To 
further safeguard the confidentiality of the data, BEA has conducted an 
Information Technology security review of the Census Bureau.

    Dated: September 7, 2004.
J. Steven Landefeld,
Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
[FR Doc. 04-20619 Filed 9-13-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P