[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 58 (Monday, March 27, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15160-15161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-4418]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis


Proposed Data Sharing Activity

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice and request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) proposes to provide to 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data collected from several 
surveys that it conducts on U.S. direct investment abroad, foreign 
direct investment in the United States, and U.S. international trade in 
services for statistical purposes exclusively. In accordance with the 
requirement of Section 524(d) of the Confidential Information 
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA), we are 
providing the opportunity for public comment on this data-sharing 
action. BEA will provide data collected in its surveys to link with 
data from BLS surveys, including the Quarterly Census of Employment and 
Wages, the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, and the Mass 
Layoff Statistics survey. The linked data will

[[Page 15161]]

be used for several purposes by both agencies, such as to develop 
detailed industry-level estimates of the employment, payroll, and 
occupational structure of foreign-owned U.S. companies or of U.S. 
companies that own foreign affiliates, and to assess the adequacy of 
current government data for understanding the international outsourcing 
activities of U.S. companies. Non-confidential aggregate data (public 
use) and reports that have cleared BEA and BLS disclosure review will 
be provided to the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) as 
potential inputs into a study of off-shoring authorized by a grant to 
NAPA under Public Law 108-447. Disclosure review is a process conducted 
to verify that the data to be released do not reveal any confidential 
information.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before 5 p.m., May 26, 
2006.

ADDRESSES: Please direct all written comments on this proposed program 
to the Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BE-1), Washington, DC 
20230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information on 
this proposed program should be directed to Obie G. Whichard, 
Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, BE-50(OC), 
Washington, DC 20230, via the Internet at [email protected], by 
phone on (202) 606-9890, or by fax on (202) 606-5318.

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 BLS to share certain business data 
for exclusively statistical purposes. Section 524(d) of the CIPSEA 
requires us to publish a Federal Register notice announcing our intent 
to share data (allowing 60 days for public comment), since BEA 
respondents were required by law to report the data. Section 524(d) 
also requires us to provide information about the terms of the 
agreement for data sharing. For purposes of this notice, BEA has 
decided to group these terms by three categories. The categories are:
     Shared data.
     Statistical purposes for the shared data.
     Data access and confidentiality.

Shared Data

    BEA proposes to provide the BLS with data collected in the 
benchmark, annual, and quarterly surveys of U.S. direct investment 
abroad, of foreign direct investment in the United States, and of U.S. 
international trade in services, as well as a survey of new foreign 
direct investments in the United States. BLS will use these data for 
statistical purposes exclusively.

Statistical Purposes for the Shared Data

    Data collected in the benchmark and annual surveys of direct 
investment are used to develop estimates of the financing and 
operations of U.S. parent companies, their foreign affiliates, and U.S. 
affiliates of foreign companies; data collected in the quarterly direct 
investment surveys are used to develop estimates of transactions and 
positions between parents and affiliates; data collected in the new 
investments survey are used to develop estimates of new foreign direct 
investments in the United States; and data collected in the benchmark, 
annual and quarterly surveys of U.S. international trade in services 
are used to develop estimates of services transactions between U.S. 
companies and unaffiliated foreign parties. These estimates are 
published in the Survey of Current Business, BEA's monthly journal; in 
other BEA publications; and on BEA's Web site at http://www.bea.gov/. 
All data are collected under Sections 3101-3108 of Title 22, U.S.C.
    The data set created by linking these data with the data from the 
above-designated BLS surveys will be used for several purposes by both 
agencies, such as to develop detailed industry-level estimates of the 
employment, payroll, and occupational structure of foreign-owned U.S. 
companies or of U.S. companies that own foreign affiliates, and to 
assess the adequacy of current government data for understanding the 
international outsourcing activities of U.S. companies.

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. Any results of this research are subject 
to BEA disclosure protection. All BLS 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. Selected NAPA 
employees will provide BEA with expertise on the aspects of the data 
collected in BEA surveys and in the linked data set that may relate to 
off-shoring; these NAPA consultants assisting with the work at BEA also 
will become BEA Special Sworn Employees. No confidential data will be 
provided to the NAPA.

J. Steven Landefeld,
Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
 [FR Doc. E6-4418 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P