[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 152 (Tuesday, August 8, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40336-40338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-18803]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Economic Analysis
15 CFR Part 801
[Docket No. 950710174-5174-01]
RIN 0691-AA26
International Services Surveys: BE-82 Annual Survey of Financial
Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and
Unaffiliated Foreign Persons
AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: This document sets forth proposed rules relating to
international services surveys to institute a new mandatory survey, the
BE-82, Annual Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S.
Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons, to be
conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of
Commerce. The survey will update information collected on the
quinquennial BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions
Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign
Persons, which was first conducted for 1994. Together, the two surveys
will produce continuous annual time series of data on financial
services that are out of scope of other international services surveys.
The information is needed, among other purposes, to support trade
policy initiatives, including trade negotiations, on financial services
and to compile the U.S. balance of payments and national income and
product accounts.
The survey will be conducted under the International Investment and
Trade in Services Survey Act and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness
Act of 1988.The first survey will cover 1995.
DATES: Comments on these proposed rules will receive consideration if
submitted in writing on or before September 22, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to the Office of the Chief,
International Investment Division (BE-50), Bureau of Economic Analysis,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230, or hand delivered to
Room M-100, 1441 L Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20005. Comments will be
available for public inspection in Room 7006, 1441 L Street, N.W.,
between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Betty L. Barker, Chief, International Investment Division (BE-50),
Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington,
DC 20230; phone (202) 606-9805.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These proposed rules will amend existing 15
CFR 801.9 to set forth reporting requirements for the BE-82, Annual
Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial
Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. The survey will be
conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of
Commerce, under the International Investment and Trade in Services
Survey Act (P.L. 94-472, 90 Stat. 2059, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108, as
amended) and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (P.L.
100-418, 15 U.S.C. 4908). Section 3103(a) of the International
Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act provides that ``The
President shall, to the extent he deems necessary and feasible-- . . .
(1) conduct a regular data collection program to secure current
information . . . related to international investment and trade in
services . . .; and (5) publish for the use of the general public and
United States Government agencies periodic, regular, and comprehensive
statistical information collected pursuant to this subsection * * *''
In Section 3 of Executive Order 11961, as amended by Executive Order
12518, the President delegated the authority under the Act as concerns
international trade in services to the Secretary of Commerce, who has
redelegated it to BEA. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of
1988 directs that ``The Secretary (of Commerce) shall ensure that * * *
there is included in the Data Bank information on service sector
activity that is as complete and timely as information on economic
activity in the merchandise sector. The Secretary shall undertake a new
benchmark survey of services transactions, including transactions with
respect to * * * banking services; (and) brokerage services. * * * The
Secretary shall (also) provide, not less than once a year,
comprehensive information on the service sector of the economy.''
The major purposes of the survey are to provide the information on
financial services needed in monitoring U.S. services trade, analyzing
its effects on the U.S. economy, formulating U.S. international trade
policy, supporting bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations,
compiling the U.S. balance of payments and national income and product
accounts, developing U.S. international price indexes for services,
assessing U.S. competitiveness in international trade in services, and
improving the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate
foreign market opportunities.
As proposed, the BE-82 survey will be conducted in years in which a
BE-80 benchmark survey, or census, is not conducted; the first BE-80
survey was for 1994 and the first BE-82 survey would be for 1995. The
BE-82 survey will update the data provided on the universe of financial
services transactions between U.S. financial services providers and
unaffiliated foreign persons derived from the BE-80 survey. It covers
the same types of financial services that are covered by the BE-80
survey, but the exemption level below which reporting is not required
has been raised to $5 million compared with $1 million in the BE-80
survey. Reporting in the BE-82 is required from U.S. financial services
providers who have sales to or purchases from unaffiliated foreign
persons in all covered financial services combined in excess of $5
million during the reporting year. Those financial services providers
meeting this criteria must supply data on the amount of their sales or
purchases of each covered type of service, disaggregated by country.
U.S. financial services providers that have covered transactions of
less than $5 million during the reporting year are asked to provide, on
a voluntary basis, estimates only of their total sales or purchases of
each type of financial service.
Executive Order 12612
These proposed rules do not contain policies with Federalism
implications sufficient to warrant preparation of a Federalism
assessment under E.O. 12612.
[[Page 40337]]
Executive Order 12866
These proposed rules have been determined to be not significant for
purposes of E.O. 12866.
Paperwork Reduction Act
These proposed rules contain a collection of information
requirement subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. A request for
review of the forms has been submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget under section 3504(h) of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is
estimated to vary from 4 to 150 hours, with an overall average burden
of 7.5 hours. This includes time for reviewing the instructions,
searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data
needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.
Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of
this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this
burden, to: Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BE-1), U.S.
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; and to the Office of
Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Officer
for the Department of Commerce.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and Regulation,
Department of Commerce, has certified to the Chief Counsel for
Advocacy, Small Business Administration, under the provisions of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), that this proposed
rulemaking, if adopted, will not have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities. The exemption level for the
survey excludes most small businesses from mandatory reporting.
Reporting is required only if total sales or total purchases
transactions in financial services with unaffiliated foreign persons by
U.S. persons who are financial services providers, or by U.S. persons
whose consolidated enterprise includes a separately organized
subsidiary or part that is a financial services provider, exceed $5
million during the year. In addition, international business tends to
be conducted mainly by the larger companies in a given industry; in the
financial services industry, this is particularly true, because of the
high degree of consolidation that has occurred in that industry in the
United States during the past several years. In any event, small
businesses tend to have specialized operations and activities, so those
with reportable transactions will likely not have significant amounts
of data to report; therefore, the burden on them will be relatively
small.
List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 801
Economic statistics, Balance of payments, Foreign trade, Penalties,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: July 3, 1995.
J. Steven Landefeld,
Acting Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, BEA proposes to amend 15
CFR part 801, as follows:
PART 801--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for 15 CFR part 801 is revised to read as
follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 15 U.S.C. 4908; 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108;
E.O. 11961, (3 CFR, 1977 Comp., p. 86 as amended by E.O. 12013, 3
CFR, 1977 Comp., p. 147, E.O. 12318, 3 CFR, 1981 Comp., p. 173, and
E.O. 12518, 3 CFR, 1985 Comp., p. 348.
2. Section 801.9 is amended by adding paragraph (b)(7) to read as
follows:
Sec. 801.9 Reports required.
* * * * *
(b) Annual surveys. * * *
(7) BE-82, Annual Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between
U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons:
(i) A BE-82, Annual Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between
U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons,
will be conducted covering companies' 1995 fiscal year and every year
thereafter except when a BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services
Transactions Between U.S. Financial Service Providers and Unaffiliated
Foreign Persons, is conducted (see Sec. 801.11). All legal authorities,
provisions, definitions, and requirements contained in Sec. 801.1
through Sec. 801.8 are applicable to this survey. Additional rules and
regulations for the BE-82 survey are given in paragraphs (b) (7)(i) (A)
through (D) of this section. More detailed instructions are given on
the report form itself.
(A) Who must report. (1) Mandatory reporting. Reports are required
from each U.S. person who is a financial services provider or
intermediary, or whose consolidated U.S. enterprise includes a
separately organized subsidiary or part that is a financial services
provider or intermediary, and who had transactions (either sales or
purchases) directly with unaffiliated foreign persons in all financial
services combined in excess of $5,000,000 during its fiscal year
covered by the survey. The $5,000,000 threshold should be applied to
financial services transactions with unaffiliated foreign persons by
all parts of the consolidated U.S. enterprise combined that are
financial services providers or intermediaries. Because the $5,000,000
threshold applies separately to sales and purchases, the mandatory
reporting requirement may apply only to sales, only to purchases, or to
both sales and purchases.
(i) The determination of whether a U.S. financial services provider
or intermediary is subject to this mandatory reporting requirement may
be judgmental, that is, based on the judgment of knowledgeable persons
in a company who can identify reportable transactions on a recall
basis, with a reasonable degree of certainty, without conducting a
detailed manual records search.
(ii) Reporters who file pursuant to this mandatory reporting
requirement must provide data on total sales and/or purchases of each
of the covered types of financial services transactions and must
disaggregate the totals by country.
(2) Voluntary reporting. If, during the fiscal year covered, sales
or purchases of financial services by a firm that is a financial
services provider or intermediary, or by a firm's subsidiaries or parts
combined that are financial services providers or intermediaries, are
$5,000,000 or less, the U.S. person is requested to provide an estimate
of the total for each type of service. Provision of this information is
voluntary. Because the $5,000,000 threshold applies separately to sales
and purchases, this voluntary reporting option may apply only to sales,
only to purchases, or to both sales and purchases.
(B) BE-82 definition of financial services provider. The definition
of a financial services provider used for this survey is the same as
that used for the BE-80 benchmark survey, as defined in Sec. 801.11(b).
(C) Covered types of services. The BE-82 survey covers the same
types of financial services transactions that are covered by the BE-80
benchmark survey, as listed in Sec. 801.11(c).
(D) What to file. (i) The BE-82 survey consists of Forms BE-82(A)
and BE-82(B). Before completing a Form BE-82(B), a consolidated U.S.
enterprise (including the top parent and all of its subsidiaries and
parts combined) must complete Form BE-82(A) to determine its reporting
status. If the enterprise is
[[Page 40338]]
subject to the mandatory reporting requirement, or if it is exempt from
the mandatory reporting requirement but chooses to report data
voluntarily, either a separate Form BE-82(B) may be filed for each
separately organized financial services subsidiary or part of the
consolidated U.S. enterprise, or a single BE-82(B) may be filed,
representing the sum of covered transactions by all financial services
subsidiaries or parts of the enterprise combined.
(ii) Reporters that receive the BE-82 survey from BEA, but that are
not reporting data in either the mandatory or voluntary section of any
Form BE-82(B), must return the Exemption Claim, attached to Form BE-
82(A), to BEA.
(ii) [Reserved].
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 95-18803 Filed 8-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-M