[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 160 (Friday, August 17, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 49721-49722]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-20147]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Economic Analysis
15 CFR Part 801
[Docket No. 111012619-2294-04]
RIN 0691-AA81
International Services Surveys and Direct Investment Surveys
Reporting
AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis.
ACTION: Notice of clarification.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) issues this document to
clarify for the public a rule BEA published in April 2012 that set out
new procedures BEA will follow to collect data on international trade
in services and direct investment surveys. The surveys are provided for
by the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (the
Act) and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988.
Specifically, BEA clarifies that the previously issued rule does not
have retroactive effect, and that those entities required to complete
surveys that BEA is currently conducting based on rules creating those
surveys--the 2011 BE-11, 2011 BE-15, 2012 BE-12, 2012 BE-29, 2012 BE-
120, and all 2012 quarterly surveys--must still complete those surveys.
DATES: August 17, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David H. Galler, Chief, Direct
Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; email
[email protected] or phone (202) 606-9835.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The International Investment and Trade in
Services Survey Act (the Act) and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness
Act of 1988 both require BEA to collect comprehensive and reliable
information on international trade in services and direct investment
from all U.S. persons coming within the reporting requirements. For
many years, BEA conducted these surveys only after implementing the
surveys through notice and comment rulemaking procedures. See, e.g.,
Direct Investment Surveys: BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct
Investment in the United States at 76 FR 79054 (December 21, 2011) or
International Services Surveys: BE-150, Quarterly Survey of Cross-
Border Credit, Debit, and Charge Card Transactions at 77 FR 10958
(February 24, 2012). Issuing the surveys using the notice and comment
procedures of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553 (APA)
provided all potential filers
[[Page 49722]]
with constructive notice of the surveys as well as of their requirement
to complete them. See 44 U.S.C. 1507 (filing a document with the
Federal Register ``is sufficient to give notice of the contents of the
document to the person subject to or affected by it''). However,
issuing surveys through notice and comment was not required by statute.
Additionally, over time BEA found that going through the notice and
comment requirements of the APA to prepare and issue surveys on a
routine basis was time-consuming, and determined that it could collect
such information just as, or perhaps more, efficiently by issuing the
surveys through notices, rather than through individual rulemakings,
and by informing respondents directly of the need to complete the
surveys. See 77 FR 772 (January 6, 2012).
To make this change, on April 24, 2012, BEA published in the
Federal Register a final rule titled, ``International Services Surveys
and Direct Investment Surveys Reporting,'' 77 FR 24373. That rule
amended BEA's regulations at 15 CFR parts 801-807, and stated that BEA
will no longer issue most surveys required under the Act or the Omnibus
Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 following notice and comment
rulemaking procedures under the APA. BEA will now, going forward, issue
notices of its surveys in the Federal Register and individually to U.S.
persons required to complete the surveys. See 15 CFR 801.3.
The purpose of this notice is to clarify to respondents that the
final rule did not alter any pre-existing response obligations; that
is, the rule amending BEA's regulations at 15 CFR parts 801-807 does
not have retroactive effect. We also note that the APA generally
prohibits an agency from implementing a rule with retroactive effect.
Direct investment and international trade in services surveys that BEA
is currently conducting will continue to operate under the regulations
established under their most recent rulemaking action prior to April
24, 2012. For example, entities required by former 15 CFR 806.14 to
complete the BE-11 Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad (see
75 FR 80294) for fiscal year 2011 are not freed of that obligation
until they receive notice from BEA of a new BE-11 survey. The new
procedures for implementing surveys through notices in the Federal
Register and through direct notices to respondents will be used only
for surveys issued after the April 24, 2012 final rule.
Accordingly, BEA's new survey procedures only apply to surveys it
will issue in the future, not to those that it issued prior to April
24, 2012 following notice and comment rulemaking according to the APA.
Dated: August 9, 2012.
Joel D. Platt,
Acting Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2012-20147 Filed 8-16-12; 8:45 am]
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