[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 186 (Tuesday, September 25, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48413-48414]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-20785]
[[Page 48413]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
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 Transactions in Selected Services and
Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons.
OMB Control Number: 0608-0067.
Form Number: BE-125.
Type of Request: Regular submission.
Number of Responses: 8,800 annually (2,200 filed each quarter;
1,700 reporting mandatory data, and 500 that would file other
responses).
Average Hours per Response: 21 hours is the average for those
reporting data, and one hour is the average for those filing an
exemption or providing voluntary responses, but hours may vary
considerably among respondents because of differences in company size
and complexity.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 144,800.
Needs and Uses: The Quarterly Survey of Transactions in Selected
Services and Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons (BE-125) is a
survey that collects data from U.S. persons who engage in covered
transactions with foreign persons in selected services or intellectual
property. A U.S. Person means any individual, branch, partnership,
associated group, association, estate, trust, corporation, or other
organization (whether or not organized under the laws of any State),
resident in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the
United States. A U.S. person must report if they had sales of covered
services or intellectual property to foreign persons that exceeded $6
million for the previous fiscal year, or are expected to exceed that
amount during the current fiscal year, or if they had purchases of
covered services or intellectual property from foreign persons that
exceeded $4 million for the previous fiscal year, or are expected to
exceed that amount during the current fiscal year.
The data are needed to monitor U.S. trade in services, to analyze
the impact of these cross-border services and intellectual property
transactions 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 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 reporting requirements and several modifications to the data
collected on the BE-125 survey, beginning with reporting for first
quarter 2019. These modifications will allow BEA to align its
statistics more closely with international economic accounting
guidelines, increasing the quality and usefulness of BEA's published
statistics on trade in services.
BEA will adjust the reporting requirements of the survey so they
are applied based on ``combined'' thresholds. Currently, the reporting
requirements for the BE-125 survey are applied based on the dollar
amount of each covered transaction type collected on the survey. For
example, a reporter with transactions in several of the services and
intellectual property categories covered by the survey, may only exceed
the threshold for mandatorily reporting additional detail by country,
and by relationship to the foreign transactor (foreign affiliate,
foreign parent group, or unaffiliated) for a single transaction type.
Under this approach, the reporter is only required to report this
additional detail, on the mandatory schedule(s), for the single
transaction type in excess of the $6 million (sales) or $4 million
(purchases) threshold.
The change will modify the reporting threshold to be applied based
on a ``combined'' threshold for sales or purchases of the covered types
of services and intellectual property transactions. U.S. persons with
combined sales in excess of $6 million or with combined purchases in
excess of $4 million, are required to disaggregate all transaction
types by country and by relationship to the foreign transactor on the
mandatory schedule(s). Because the combined thresholds are applied
separately to sales and to purchases, the mandatory reporting
requirements may apply only to sales, only to purchases, or to both.
BEA will make the following modifications to the data collection
instrument:
(1) Research and development services will be broken out into two
categories: (1) Provision of customized and non-customized R&D services
and (2) other R&D services, including testing.
(2) Engineering, architectural, and surveying services will be
broken out into three categories: (1) Architectural services; (2)
engineering services; and (3) surveying, cartography, certification,
testing, and technical inspection services.
(3) Management, consulting, and public relation services will be
broken out into three categories: (1) Market research services; (2)
public opinion polling services; and (3) other management, consulting,
and public relations services. Trade exhibition and sales convention
services will be collected separately.
(4) Database and other information services will be broken out into
two components: (1) News agency services and (2) other information
services.
(5) Computer services will be expanded into three categories: (1)
Computer software, including end-user licenses and customization
services; (2) cloud computing and data storage services; and (3) other
computer services.
(6) Several service categories previously collected under ``Other
selected services'' will be collected separately. These services
include contract manufacturing services, disbursements for sales
promotion and representation, photographic services (including
satellite photography), space transport services, trade exhibition and
sales convention services, agricultural services, and waste treatment
and depollution services.
(7) Mandatory Schedule C will be modified to only collect related
goods details for construction services. On the current BE-125 survey,
exports (sales) of three service types are collected on a separate
schedule, Schedule C, to allow for reporting of information on the
gross operating revenues and related goods exports and foreign
expenses. The three categories are: (1) Construction services; (2)
engineering, architectural, and surveying services; and (3) mining
services. Beginning with reporting for first quarter 2019, only
construction services will be collected on Schedule C. Mining services,
as well as the three new categories that will replace engineering,
architectural, and surveying services, will be collected on Schedule A.
BEA estimates the proposed changes, being implemented beginning
with reporting for first quarter 2019, will increase the average number
of hours per response from 19 hours to 21 hours for those reporting
data. The reporting thresholds of the current BE-125 survey will be
retained. The effort to keep
[[Page 48414]]
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 reginfo.gov
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,
Department Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-20785 Filed 9-24-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P