[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 110 (Thursday, June 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48367-48368]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12450]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Services Surveys: BE-125, Quarterly Survey of Transactions in 
Selected Services and Intellectual Property With Foreign Persons

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment on proposed and continuing information 
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information 
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment 
preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before August 5, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to 
Christopher Stein, Chief, Services Surveys Branch, Bureau of Economic 
Analysis, by email to [email protected] or [email protected]. 
Please reference OMB Control Number 0608-0067 in the subject line of 
your comments. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Christopher Stein, Chief, Services Surveys Branch, Bureau of 
Economic Analysis; 301-278-9189; or via email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Quarterly Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and 
Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons (Form BE-125) is an ongoing 
survey that collects data from U.S. persons who engage in covered 
transactions in selected services or intellectual property with foreign 
persons. 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 combined 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 
combined 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 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 
trade in services component of the U.S. international transactions 
accounts (ITAs) and national income and product accounts (NIPAs).
    The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is proposing a minor 
modification to the survey beginning with reporting for the first 
quarter of 2025 to further align BEA's statistics with international 
guidelines and to collect additional information that can be used to 
improve the current estimation methodologies for published services 
transactions, increasing the quality and usefulness of BEA's statistics 
on trade in services.
    BEA proposes to separately collect space passenger and space 
freight services to better measure space transport services. Currently, 
the BE-125 Quarterly Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and 
Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons collects transactions for 
``Space transport services'' (transaction code 38) as a single category 
on the survey. The transactions would be collected separately as 38.1 
(passenger) and 38.2 (freight). Collecting separate categories for 
space passenger and space freight transport services would improve 
BEA's measurement for these growing economic activities, which are 
currently based on publicly available reports.
    BEA estimates there will be no change in the average number of 
burden hours per response because of the small number of reporters who 
will be impacted by the change. Furthermore, the affected reporters 
should not experience a noticeable impact to burden because the data 
are already collected by BEA as a combined transaction category, and it 
is believed this additional level of detail is readily available in 
their accounting records.
    BEA does not plan to change the exemption levels used for the 
current quarterly survey. The language in the instructions and 
definitions will be reviewed and adjusted as necessary to clarify 
survey requirements.

II. Method of Collection

    BEA contacts potential respondents by mail at the end of each 
quarter. Respondents would be required to file the completed BE-125 
forms within 30 days after the end of each fiscal quarter

[[Page 48368]]

that is not the final fiscal quarter of the year and within 45 days 
after the close of the final fiscal quarter of the year. Reports would 
be required from each U.S. person that had combined 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 that had combined purchases 
of covered services or intellectual property from foreign persons that 
exceeded $4 million for the previous fiscal year, or that are expected 
to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year. Entities required 
to report will be contacted individually by BEA. Entities not contacted 
by BEA have no reporting responsibilities.
    BEA offers its electronic filing option, the eFile system, for use 
in reporting on Form BE-125. For more information about eFile, go to 
www.bea.gov/efile. In addition, BEA posts all its survey forms and 
reporting instructions on its website, www.bea.gov/ssb. These may be 
downloaded, completed, printed, and submitted via fax or mail.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0608-0067.
    Form Number(s): BE-125.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,200 annually (2,800 filed each 
quarter; 2,200 reporting mandatory data by country and affiliation, and 
600 that would file exemption claims or voluntary responses).
    Estimated Time per Response: 21 hours is the average for the 2,200 
respondents filing data by country and affiliation and 1 hour for those 
filing an exemption claim or voluntary response. Hours may vary 
considerably among respondents because of differences in company size 
and complexity.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 187,200.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: International Investment and Trade in Services 
Survey Act (Public Law 94-472, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108, as amended).

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden 
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request 
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone 
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in 
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including 
your personal identifying information--may be made publicly available 
at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your 
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-12450 Filed 6-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P