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[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 236 (Thursday, December 9, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 76630-76631]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-30970]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis

15 CFR Part 806

[Docket No. 100202061-0573-02]
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: Final Rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule amends 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. BEA conducts the survey quarterly and obtains sample data on 
transactions and positions between U.S.-owned foreign business 
enterprises and their U.S. parents.
    Through this rule, BEA will modify items on the survey form and the 
reporting criteria. Changes will bring the BE-577 forms and related 
instructions into conformity with the 2009 BE-10, Benchmark Survey of 
U.S. Direct Investment Abroad, and will raise the threshold for 
reporting.

DATES: The final rule will be effective January 10, 2011.

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 or 
e-mail David.Galler@bea.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 1, 2010, BEA published a notice 
of proposed rulemaking that set forth revised reporting criteria for 
the BE-577, Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad--Direct 
Transactions of U.S. Reporter With Foreign Affiliate, (75 FR 53611-
53612). No comments on the proposed rule were received. Thus, the 
proposed rule is adopted without change. This final rule amends 15 CFR 
part 806.14 to set forth the reporting requirements for the BE-577 
quarterly survey of U.S. direct investment abroad.
    The BE-577 survey is a mandatory quarterly survey of U.S. direct 
investment abroad conducted by BEA under the International Investment 
and Trade in Services Survey Act, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108 (the Act). BEA 
will send BE-577 survey forms to potential respondents each quarter; 
responses will be due within 30 days after the end of each quarter, 
except for the final quarter of the fiscal year when reports will be 
due within 45 days of the end of the quarter.

Description of Changes

    BEA is making a number of changes to the BE-577 survey. BEA is 
increasing the exemption level for reporting on Form BE-577 to $60 
million and will 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 is

[[Page 76631]]

changing the title of Form BE-577 to ``Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct 
Investment Abroad--Direct 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. parent companies must report data for their foreign 
affiliates if the affiliates have total assets, sales or gross 
operating revenues, or net income greater than $60 million (positive or 
negative). BEA expects about 14,500 survey forms to be reported each 
quarter, compared to 17,500 under the previous threshold for filing. 
About 3,000 affiliates--accounting for less than 1.5 percent of the 
statistics for income and direct investment position--will drop out of 
the sample and will be estimated based on reports received on the 
benchmark survey.

Survey Background

    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 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 final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of E.O. 12866.

Executive Order 13132

    This final rule does not contain policies with Federalism 
implications as that term is defined in E.O. 13132.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This collection-of-information in this final rule has been 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). OMB approved the information collection 
under 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 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 respondent burden of 
62,000 hours in the current OMB inventory of burden hours for this 
collection of information. The reduction in burden is a result of 
raising the threshold for filing.
    Written comments regarding the burden-hour estimates or any other 
aspect of the collection-of-information requirements contained in the 
final rule should be sent both to the Bureau of Economic Analysis via 
mail to U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, 
Office of the Chief, Direct Investment Division, BE-50, Washington, DC 
20230; via e-mail at David.Galler@bea.gov; or by FAX at (202) 606-5311, 
and to the Office of Management and Budget, 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.

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 final rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The factual basis for the certification was published in the proposed 
rule and is not repeated here. No comments were received regarding the 
certification or the economic impact of the rule more generally. No 
final regulatory flexibility analysis was prepared.

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 806

    Economic statistics, International transactions, Penalties, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, U.S. investment abroad.

    Dated: November 18, 2010.
Brian C. Moyer,
Acting Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, BEA amends 15 CFR Part 806 
as follows:

PART 806--DIRECT INVESTMENT SURVEYS

0
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).

0
2. Section 806.14(e) is revised to read as follows:

Sec.  806.14  U.S. direct investment abroad.

* * * * *
    (e) Quarterly report form. BE-577, Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct 
Investment Abroad--Direct 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. 2010-30970 Filed 12-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P
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