[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 140 (Friday, July 22, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 42412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-14466]



[[Page 42412]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


Departmental Offices; Proposed Collections; Comment Requests

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork burdens, invites the general public and 
other Federal agencies to comment on revisions of an information 
collection that are proposed for approval by the Office of Management 
and Budget. The Office of International Affairs within the Department 
of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning Treasury 
International Capital (TIC) Form BL-2/BL-2(SA), Report by Depository 
Institutions, Brokers and Dealers of Customers' U.S. Dollar Liabilities 
to Foreigners.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before September 20, 
2005 to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Dwight Wolkow, International 
Portfolio Investment Data Systems, Department of the Treasury, Room 
4410-1440NYA, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington DC 20220. In 
view of possible delays in mail delivery, please also notify Mr. Wolkow 
by e-mail ([email protected]), FAX (202-622-1207) or telephone 
(202-622-1276).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the proposed forms and 
instructions are available on the Treasury's TIC Forms Web page, http://www.treas.gov/tic/forms.html. Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Mr. Wolkow.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Titles: Treasury International Capital Form 
BL-2/BL-2(SA), Report by Depository Institutions, Brokers and Dealers 
of Customers' U.S. Dollar Liabilities to Foreigners.
    OMB Control Number: 1505-0018.
    Abstract: Form BL-2/BL-2(SA) is part of the Treasury International 
Capital (TIC) reporting system, which is required by law (22 U.S.C. 
286f; 22 U.S.C. 3103; E.O. 10033; 31 CFR 128) and is designed to 
collect timely information on international portfolio capital 
movements. Form BL-2 is a monthly report (with a semiannual supplement) 
filed by banks, other depository institutions, brokers and dealers that 
covers their U.S. customers/ dollar liabilities vis-[agrave]-vis 
foreign residents. This information is necessary for compiling the U.S. 
balance of payments accounts and the U.S. international investment 
position, and for formulating U.S. international financial and monetary 
policies. Current Actions: (a) The list for reporting the location of 
foreign counterparties on all TIC reporting forms will be increased to 
a total of roughly 245 countries and other areas. This longer list is 
essentially the same as the lists used for years in the TIC benchmark 
and annual reports, and thus will establish a uniform list of 
countries/areas consistent across all TIC reporting forms. Comments 
from TIC respondents indicate that their modern computerized database 
systems can easily produce all TIC reports for this longer list of 
countries/areas. This change will apply to the monthly and quarterly B-
forms, C-forms, Form D and Form S and will allow the semiannual B-forms 
to be eliminated (see action b below). This action is expected to 
result in an overall reduction in burden for TIC respondents as a 
whole, as well as satisfying Treasury's need for more timely 
information on a larger number of countries. Comments from TIC 
respondents indicate that the combination of the longer uniform country 
list and the virtual elimination of rows for ``other countries'' will 
reduce significantly the total burden from all TIC reports, including 
the burdens of cross-checking information, responding to inquiries from 
data compilers, and making revisions to data reports; (b) The 
semiannual reports BC(SA), BL-1(SA) and BL-2(SA) will be eliminated. 
These reports for about 130 countries/areas will be made unnecessary by 
action (a) above; and (c) these changes will be effective beginning 
with the reports as of June 30, 2006.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Form BL-2/BL-2(SA) (1505-0018)
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 90 (semiannual 35)
    Estimated Average Time per Respondent: Seven and one/half (7.5) 
hours per respondent per filing. This average time varies from 11 hours 
for the approximately 30 major reporters to 5.5 hours for the other 
reporters.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 8,635 hours, based on twelve 
reporting periods per year.
    Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for Office of 
Management and Budget approval. All comments will become a matter of 
public record. The public is invited to submit written comments 
concerning: (a) Whether Form BL-2/BL-2(SA) is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the Office, including whether the 
information will have practical uses; (b) the accuracy of the above 
estimate of the burdens; (c) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness 
and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize 
the reporting and/or record keeping burdens on respondents, including 
the use of information technologies to automate the collection of the 
data; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs of operation, 
maintenance and purchase of services to provide information.

Dwight Wolkow,
Administrator, International Portfolio Investment Data Systems.
[FR Doc. 05-14466 Filed 7-21-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-25-P