[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 229 (Tuesday, November 30, 2004)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 69508-69510]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-26367]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis

15 CFR Part 801

[Docket No. 040803225-4315-02]
RIN 0691-AA51


International Services Surveys: BE-80, Benchmark 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: This final rule amends regulations that set forth reporting 
requirements for the BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services 
Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated 
Foreign Persons.
    The BE-80 survey is conducted once every five years by the Bureau 
of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the 
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act and under the 
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. The Benchmark Survey 
will be conducted for 2004. The data are needed to compile the U.S. 
international transactions, national income and product, and input-
output accounts; support U.S. economic policy; assess U.S. 
competitiveness in international trade in services; and improve the 
ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market 
opportunities.
    This final rule changes the reporting of data on international 
transactions in financial services by: creating a new category for 
brokerage services related to equities transactions; collecting total 
receipts and total payments for financial services transactions with 
affiliated foreign parties (that is, with foreign affiliates and 
foreign parents); and revising the definition of a financial services 
provider to more fully align the definition with the North American 
Industry Classification System--2002.

DATES: This final rule will become effective December 30, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Obie G. Whichard, Chief, International 
Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; phone (202) 606-9800 or 
e-mail ([email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the August 27, 2004 Federal Register, 69 
FR 52613-52615, BEA published a notice of proposed rulemaking setting 
forth revised reporting requirements for the BE-80, Benchmark Survey of 
Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services 
Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. No comments on the proposed 
rule were received. Thus, the proposed rule is adopted without change.
    This final rule amends 15 CFR part 801.11 to set forth reporting 
requirements for the BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services 
Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated 
Foreign Persons.

Description of Revisions

    The BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions 
Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign

[[Page 69509]]

Persons, is mandatory and is conducted every 5 years by the Bureau of 
Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the 
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (22 U.S.C. 
3101-3108)--hereinafter, ``the Act,'' and under section 5408 of the 
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4908). BEA 
will send the survey to potential respondents in January 2005, and a 
response will be due by March 31, 2005. BEA will enact the following 
changes to the Code of Federal Regulations: (1) Split the category for 
brokerage services into two categories, by collecting information on 
services related to equities transactions separately from other 
brokerage services; (2) add questions covering total receipts and total 
payments for transactions in financial services with affiliated foreign 
parties (i.e., foreign affiliates and foreign parents); and (3) revise 
the definition of a financial services provider to more fully align the 
definition with the 2002 version of North American Industry 
Classification System. The forms and instructions for the 2004 
Benchmark Survey will be amended to reflect these changes to the Code 
of Federal Regulations.

Survey Background

    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. 3101-3108)--hereinafter, ``the Act,'' 
and under section 5408 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 
1988 (15 U.S.C. 4908). 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 the 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 his authority 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 compile the U.S. 
international transactions, national income and product, and input-
output accounts; support U.S. international economic policy; assess 
U.S. competitiveness in international trade in financial services; and 
improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market 
opportunities.
    The survey is intended to cover the universe of financial services 
transactions between U.S. financial services providers and foreign 
persons. Reporting is required from U.S. financial services providers 
who have sales to or purchases from unaffiliated foreign persons in all 
financial services combined in excess of $3 million during the 
reporting year. Financial services providers meeting these criteria 
must supply data on the amount of their sales or purchases with 
unaffiliated foreign persons for each type of covered service, 
disaggregated by country, and must report transactions with foreign 
affiliates and foreign parents at the global level for both total sales 
and total purchases of the covered financial services. U.S. financial 
services providers that have covered transactions of $3 million or less 
during the reporting year are asked to provide voluntary estimates of 
their total sales and total purchases of each type of financial 
service.

Executive Order 12866

    This final rule has been determined to be 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 (OMB) under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).
    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 Office of Management and Budget control number. The OMB 
number for the BE-80 is 0608-0062; the collection will display this 
control number.
    The survey is expected to result in the filing of reports from 
approximately 375 respondents. The respondent reporting burden for this 
collection of information is estimated to vary from less than 4 hours 
to 150 hours, with an overall average burden of 8 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. Thus, the total respondent burden of the 
survey is estimated at 3,000 hours (375 responses times 8 hours average 
burden).
    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 (fax: 202-606-5311); and either faxed (202-395-7245) or e-mailed 
([email protected]) 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 the 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. Although BEA 
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 exemption level for the survey being $3 million 
in covered receipts or payments, the reporting threshold for this 
survey is set at a level that will exempt most small businesses from 
reporting. 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.
    BEA received no comments on the economic impact of this rule. As a 
result, no regulatory flexibility analysis was prepared.

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 801

    Economic statistics, Foreign trade, Penalties, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: November 2, 2004.
J. Steven Landefeld,
Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

0
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

0
1. The authority citation for 15 CFR part 801 is revised to read as 
follows:


[[Page 69510]]


    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. 12318, 3 
CFR, 1981 Comp. p. 173, and E.O. 12518, 3 CFR, 1985 Comp. p. 348.


0
2. Section 801.11(b) and (c) are revised to read as follows:


Sec.  801.11  Rules and regulations for the BE-80, Benchmark Survey of 
Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services 
Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.

* * * * *
    (b) BE-80 definition of financial services provider. The definition 
of financial services provider used for this survey is identical in 
coverage to Sector 52--Finance and Insurance, and holding companies 
that own or influence, and are principally engaged in making management 
decisions for these firms (part of Sector 55--Management of Companies 
and Enterprises, of the North American Industry Classification System, 
United States, 2002). For example, companies and/or subsidiaries and 
other separable parts of companies in the following industries are 
defined as financial services providers: Depository credit 
intermediation and related activities (including commercial banking, 
savings institutions, credit unions, and other depository credit 
intermediation); nondepository credit intermediation (including credit 
card issuing, sales financing, and other nondepository credit 
intermediation); activities related to credit intermediation (including 
mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers, financial transactions 
processing, reserve, and clearinghouse activities, and other activities 
related to credit intermediation); securities and commodity contracts 
intermediation and brokerage (including investment banking and 
securities dealing, securities brokerage, commodity contracts dealing, 
and commodity contracts brokerage); securities and commodity exchanges; 
other financial investment activities (including miscellaneous 
intermediation, portfolio management, investment advice, and all other 
financial investment activities); insurance carriers; insurance 
agencies, brokerages, and other insurance related activities; insurance 
and employee benefit funds (including pension funds, health and welfare 
funds, and other insurance funds); other investment pools and funds 
(including open-end investment funds, trusts, estates, and agency 
accounts, real estate investment trusts, and other financial vehicles); 
and holding companies that own, or influence the management decisions 
of, firms principally engaged in the aforementioned activities.
    (c) Covered types of services. The BE-80 survey covers the 
following types of financial services transactions (purchases and/or 
sales) between U.S. financial services providers and unaffiliated 
foreign persons: Brokerage services related to equities transactions; 
other brokerage services; underwriting and private placement services; 
financial management services; credit-related services, except credit 
card services; credit card services; financial advisory and custody 
services; securities lending services; electronic funds transfer 
services; and other financial services. The BE-80 also covers total 
receipts and total payments for the above-listed types of financial 
services transactions with affiliated foreign parties (foreign 
affiliates and foreign parents).
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 04-26367 Filed 11-29-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P