Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 169 / Wednesday, September 1, 2010 / Proposed Rules 53611 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Economic Analysis 

15 CFR Part 806 

[Docket No. 100202061–0063–01] 

RIN 0691–AA75 

Direct Investment Surveys: BE–577, 

Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct 

Investment Abroad—Direct 

Transactions of U.S. Reporter With 

Foreign Affiliate 

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: This proposed rule would 

amend regulations of the Bureau of 

Economic Analysis (BEA), Department 

of Commerce, to set forth the reporting 

requirements for BE–577 quarterly 

survey of U.S. direct investment abroad. 

The survey is conducted quarterly and 

obtains sample data on transactions and 

positions between U.S.-owned foreign 

business enterprises and their U.S. 

parents. 

BEA proposes modification of items 

on the survey form and in the reporting 

criteria. Changes are proposed to bring 

the BE–577 forms and related 

instructions into conformity with the 

2009 BE–10, Benchmark Survey of U.S. 

Direct Investment Abroad, and to raise 

the threshold for reporting. 

DATES: Comments on this proposed rule 

will receive consideration if submitted 

in writing on or before 5 p.m. November 

1, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 0691–AA75, and 

referencing the agency name (Bureau of 

Economic Analysis), by any of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

For agency, select ‘‘Commerce 

Department—all.’’ 

• E-mail: David.Galler@bea.gov. 

• Fax: Office of the Chief, Direct 

Investment Division, (202) 606–5318. 

• Mail: Office of the Chief, Direct 

Investment Division, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, Bureau of Economic 

Analysis, BE–50, Washington, DC 

20230. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Office of the 

Chief, Direct Investment Division, U.S. 

Department of Commerce, Bureau of 

Economic Analysis, BE–50, Shipping 

and Receiving, Section M100, 1441 L 

Street, NW., Washington, DC, 20005. 

Written comments regarding the 

burden-hour estimates or other aspects 

of the collection-of-information 

requirements contained in the proposed 

rule should be sent to both BEA through 

any of the methods above and to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB), O.I.R.A., Paperwork Reduction 

Project 0608–0004, Attention PRA Desk 

Officer for BEA, via e-mail at 

pbugg@omb.eop.gov, or by FAX at (202) 

395–7245. 

Public Inspection: All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All personal identifying information (for 

example, name, address, etc.) 

voluntarily submitted by the 

commentator may be publicly 

accessible. Do not submit confidential 

business information or otherwise 

sensitive or protected information. BEA 

will accept anonymous comments. 

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; 

phone (202) 606–9835. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In Section 

3 of Executive Order 11961, as amended 

by Executive Orders 12318 and 12518, 

the President delegated responsibility 

for performing functions under the Act 

as concerns direct investment to the 

Secretary of Commerce, who has 

redelegated it to BEA. The BE–577 

quarterly survey of U.S. direct 

investment abroad is a mandatory 

survey and is conducted quarterly by 

BEA under the International Investment 

and Trade in Services Survey Act, 22 

U.S.C. 3101–3108 (the Act). 

The survey is a sample survey that 

collects data on transactions and 

positions between U.S.-owned foreign 

business enterprises and their U.S. 

parents. The sample data are used to 

derive quarterly universe estimates from 

similar data reported in the BE–10, 

Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct 

Investment Abroad, which is conducted 

every five years. The data are used in 

the preparation of the U.S. international 

transactions accounts and national 

income and product accounts. The data 

are needed to measure the size and 

economic significance of U.S. direct 

investment abroad, measure changes in 

such investment, and assess its impact 

on the U.S. and foreign economies. BEA 

will send BE–577 survey forms to 

potential respondents each quarter; 

responses will be due within 30 days 

after the close of each fiscal quarter, 

except for the final quarter of the fiscal 

year, when reports will be due within 

45 days. 

This proposed rule would amend 15 

CFR 806.14 to set forth the reporting 

requirements for the BE–577 quarterly 

survey of U.S. direct investment abroad. 

The Department of Commerce, as part of 

its continuing effort to reduce 

paperwork and respondent burden, 

invites the general public and other 

Federal agencies to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 

U.S.C. 3501–3520 (PRA). 

Description of Changes 

BEA proposes to raise the threshold 

for exempting entities from the 

reporting requirements of BE–577 from 

$40 million to $60 million and to 

discontinue collecting information on 

transactions classified as permanent 

debt and related interest payments 

between U.S. parent companies that are 

banks, bank holding companies, or 

financial holding companies and their 

bank foreign affiliates. Recent changes 

in international standards call for the 

bank permanent debt previously 

classified as direct investment to be 

classified as other investment, for which 

statistics are collected by the Treasury 

Department through the Treasury 

International Capital System. BEA also 

proposes to change the title of Form BE– 

577 to ‘‘Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct 

Investment Abroad—Transactions of 

U.S. Reporter With Foreign Affiliate.’’ 

The exemption level was last changed 

in 2006 following the 2004 Benchmark 

Survey of U.S. Direct Investment 

Abroad. The exemption level is stated in 

terms of the foreign affiliate’s assets, 

sales, and net income. U.S. parents 

would be required to report for their 

foreign affiliates if the foreign affiliates 

have total assets, sales or gross operating 

revenues, or net income greater than $60 

million (positive or negative). At the 

new reporting threshold, BEA would 

collect about 14,500 forms per quarter, 

compared to 17,500 under the previous 

threshold. About 3,000 affiliates— 

accounting for less than 1.5 percent of 

the final universe estimates of income 

and position—would drop out of the 

sample and would be estimated based 

on reports received on the benchmark 

survey. 

Survey Background 

The Bureau of Economic Analysis 

(BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, 

conducts the BE–577 survey under the 

authority of the International 

Investment and Trade in Services 

Survey Act (22 U.S.C. 3101–3108), 

hereinafter, ‘‘the Act.’’ Section 4(a) of the 

Act (22.U.S.C. 3103(a)) provides that, 

with respect to United States direct 

investment abroad, the President shall, 

to the extent he deems necessary and 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS
53612 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 169 / Wednesday, September 1, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

feasible, conduct a regular data 

collection program to secure current 

information on international capital 

flows and other information related to 

international investment and trade in 

services including (but not limited to) 

such information that may be necessary 

for computing and analyzing the United 

States balance of payments, the 

employment and taxes of United States 

parents and affiliates, and the 

international investment and trade in 

services position of the United States. 

Executive Order 12866 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for 

purposes of E.O. 12866. 

Executive Order 13132 

This proposed rule does not contain 

policies with Federalism implications as 

that term is defined in E.O. 13132. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This proposed rule contains a 

collection-of-information requirement 

subject to review and approval by the 

OMB under the PRA. The requirement 

has been submitted to OMB for approval 

as a revision to a collection currently 

approved under OMB control number 

0608–0004. 

Notwithstanding any other provisions 

of the law, no person is required to 

respond to, nor shall any person be 

subject to a penalty for failure to comply 

with, a collection-of-information subject 

to the requirements of the PRA unless 

that collection displays a currently valid 

OMB control number. 

The BE–577 survey, as proposed, is 

expected to result in the filing of about 

14,500 foreign affiliate reports by an 

estimated 1,750 U.S. parent companies. 

A parent company must file one form 

per affiliate. The respondent burden for 

this collection of information is 

estimated to vary from one-half hour to 

three hours per response, with an 

average of one hour per response, 

including time for reviewing 

instructions, searching existing data 

sources, gathering and maintaining the 

data needed, and completing and 

reviewing the collection of information. 

Because reports are filed 4 times per 

year, 58,000 responses annually are 

expected. Thus, the total annual 

respondent burden of the survey is 

estimated at 58,000 hours (14,500 

respondents filing 4 times per year 

multiplied by 1 hour average burden). 

The survey’s estimated respondent 

burden of 58,000 hours compares with 

a total burden of 62,000 burden hours in 

the current OMB inventory. The 

reduction in burden is a result of raising 

the threshold for filing from $40 million 

to $60 million. 

Comments are requested concerning: 

(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 burden estimate; 

(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information collected; 

and (d) ways to minimize the burden of 

the collection of information on the 

respondents, including the use of 

automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Written comments regarding the 

burden-hour estimates or other aspects 

of the collection of information 

requirements contained in the proposed 

rule should be sent to both BEA and 

OMB following the instructions given in 

the ADDRESSES section above. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Chief Counsel for Regulation, 

Department of Commerce, has certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy, 

Small Business Administration (SBA), 

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. Few small U.S. businesses are 

subject to the reporting requirements of 

this survey. U.S. companies that have 

direct investments tend to be quite 

large. Although the BE–577 survey does 

not itself collect data on the size of the 

U.S. companies that must respond, data 

collected on related BEA surveys 

indicate that about 200 of the estimated 

1,750 U.S. parent companies that will be 

required to respond to the BE–577 

quarterly survey are small businesses 

according to the standards established 

by the SBA. The exemption level for the 

BE–577 survey is set in terms of the size 

of a U.S. company’s foreign affiliates 

(foreign companies owned 10 percent or 

more by the U.S. company); if a foreign 

affiliate has total assets, sales or gross 

operating revenues, or net income 

greater than $60 million (positive or 

negative), it must be reported. Usually, 

the U.S. parent company that is required 

to file the report is many times larger 

than its largest foreign affiliate. 

The approximately 200 U.S. 

businesses that meet the SBA small 

business standards tend to have few 

foreign affiliates, and the foreign 

affiliates that they do own are small for 

the purposes of this analysis. With the 

proposed increase in the exemption 

level for the BE–577 survey from $40 

million to $60 million (stated in terms 

of the foreign affiliate’s assets, sales, and 

net income), small U.S. businesses will 

be required to file fewer reports for their 

foreign affiliates than would be required 

in the absence of this increase. 

Because few small businesses are 

impacted by this rule, and because those 

small businesses that are impacted are 

subject to only minimal recordkeeping 

burdens, the Chief Counsel for 

Regulation certifies that this proposed 

rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. 

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 806 

Economic statistics, International 

transactions, Penalties, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, U.S. 

investment abroad. 

J. Steven Landefeld, 

Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, BEA proposes to amend 15 

CFR part 806 as follows: 

PART 806—DIRECT INVESTMENT 

SURVEYS 

1. The authority citation for 15 CFR 

part 806 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 22 U.S.C. 3101– 

3108; E.O. 11961 (3 CFR, 1977 Comp., p. 86), 

as amended by E.O. 12318 (3 CFR, 1981 

Comp., p. 173); E.O. 12518 (3 CFR, 1985 

Comp., p. 348). 

2. Section 806.14(e) is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 806.14 U.S. direct investment abroad. 

* * * * * 

(e) Quarterly report form. BE–577, 

Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct 

Investment Abroad—Transactions of 

U.S. Reporter With Foreign Affiliate: 

One report is required for each foreign 

affiliate exceeding an exemption level of 

$60 million except that a report need 

not be filed by a U.S. Reporter to report 

direct transactions with one of its 

foreign affiliates in which it does not 

hold a direct equity interest unless an 

intercompany balance for the quarter 

exceeds $1 million. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2010–21833 Filed 8–31–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–06–P 


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