[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 112 (Monday, June 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 33724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-9074]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis


Data Sharing Activity

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of determination.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will 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 provided 
the opportunity for public comment on this data-sharing action (see the 
March 27, 2006 edition of the Federal Register (71 FR 15160)). 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 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information on 
this 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 
required a Federal Register notice announcing the intent to share data 
(allowing 60 days for public comment), since BEA respondents were 
required by law to report the data.
    On March 27, 2006 (71 FR 15160), 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 public comments.

Shared Data

    BEA will provide the BLS with data collected from 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.

    Dated: June 6, 2006.
Rosemary D. Marcuss,
Acting Director, Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
 [FR Doc. E6-9074 Filed 6-9-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P