[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 186 (Tuesday, September 25, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48414-48415]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-20783]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. Chapter 35).
    Agency: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Department of Commerce.
    Title: Quarterly Survey of Insurance Transactions by U.S. Insurance 
Companies with Foreign Persons.
    OMB Control Number: 0608-0066.
    Form Number: BE-45.
    Type of Request: Regular submission.

[[Page 48415]]

    Number of Responses: 2,200 annually (550 filed each quarter; 515 
reporting mandatory or voluntary data, and 35 that would not report 
data).
    Average Hours per Response: 9 hours is the average for those 
reporting data and one hour is the average for those filing an 
exemption, but hours may vary considerably among respondents because of 
differences in company size and complexity.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 18,680.
    Needs and Uses: The Quarterly Survey of Insurance Transactions by 
U.S. Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons (BE-45) is one of BEA's 
primary data sources for its estimates of insurance services exports 
and imports. A U.S. insurance company must report if it had 
transactions with foreign persons, in any of the data items covered by 
the survey, that exceeded $8 million (positive or negative) in the 
prior calendar year, or are expected to exceed that amount during the 
current calendar year.
    The data are needed to monitor U.S. trade in insurance services, to 
analyze the impact of these cross-border services on the U.S. and 
foreign economies, to compile and improve the U.S. economic accounts, 
to support U.S. commercial policy on trade in services, to conduct 
trade promotion, and to improve the ability of U.S. businesses to 
identify and evaluate market opportunities. The data are used in 
estimating the insurance services component of the U.S. international 
transactions accounts (ITAs) and national income and product accounts 
(NIPAs).
    The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is implementing one change to 
the data collected on the BE-45 survey, beginning with reporting for 
first quarter 2019, which will allow BEA to improve the accuracy of our 
quarterly statistics on insurance services exports and imports.
    Schedule B of the BE-45 survey, which currently collects annual 
data on primary insurance premiums and losses, reinsurance losses, and 
auxiliary insurance services receipts and payments, on a mandatory 
basis in the fourth quarter of the year, will now be collected on a 
mandatory basis every quarter.
    BEA estimates the proposed changes, being implemented beginning 
with reporting for first quarter 2019, will increase the average number 
of hours per response from 8 hours to 9 hours for those reporting data. 
The reporting thresholds of the current BE-45 survey will be retained. 
The effort to keep current reporting thresholds unchanged is intended 
to minimize respondent burden while considering the needs of data 
users. Existing language in the instructions and definitions will be 
reviewed and adjusted as necessary to clarify survey requirements.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Quarterly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    OMB Desk Officer: Robert Sivinski, (202) 395-1205.
    This information collection request may be viewed at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/. Follow the instructions to view Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected].

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental Lead PRA Officer, Office of Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-20783 Filed 9-24-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-06-P