47292 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 161 / Tuesday, August 24, 2021 / Notices 

awards. Given the increasing 

complexity of interdisciplinary and 

interagency research, it is important for 

Federal agencies to manage awards in a 

similar fashion. The RPPR is used by 

agencies that support research and 

research-related activities for use in 

submission of progress reports. It is 

intended to replace other performance 

reporting formats currently in use by 

agencies. The RPPR does not change the 

performance reporting requirements 

specified in 2 CFR part 215 (OMB 

Circular A–110) and the Common Rule 

implementing OMB Circular A–102. 

Each category in the RPPR is a separate 

reporting component. Agencies will 

direct recipients to report on the one 

mandatory component 

(‘‘Accomplishments’’), and may direct 

them to report on optional components, 

as appropriate. Within a particular 

component, agencies may direct 

recipients to complete only specific 

questions, as not all questions within a 

given component may be relevant to all 

agencies. Agencies may develop an 

agency- or program-specific component, 

if necessary, to meet programmatic 

requirements, although agencies should 

minimize the degree to which they 

supplement the standard components. 

Such agency- or program specific 

requirements will require review and 

clearance by OMB. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0690–0032. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Review: Regular submission, 

Request for an Extension (without 

change of a currently approved 

collection). 

Affected Public: State and Local 

governments. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

19,998. 

Estimated Time per Response: 8 

minutes for monthly respondents who 

report via internet, mail or faxing the 

form, 23 minutes for annual 

respondents who report via internet, 

mail or faxing the form and 3 minutes 

for monthly and annual respondents 

who report by telephone or send 

electronic files or printouts. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 17,625. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $0. (This is not the cost of 

respondents’ time, but the indirect costs 

respondents may incur for such things 

as purchases of specialized software or 

hardware needed to report, or 

expenditures for accounting or records 

maintenance services required 

specifically by the collection.) 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 131 

and 182. 

IV. Request for Comments 

We are soliciting public comments to 

permit the Department/Bureau to: (a) 

Evaluate whether the proposed 

information collection is necessary for 

the proper functions of the Department, 

including whether the information will 

have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the 

accuracy of our estimate of the time and 

cost burden for this proposed collection, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and (d) Minimize the 

reporting burden on those who are to 

respond, including 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. 2021–18163 Filed 8–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–17–P 

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–9, 

Quarterly Survey of Foreign Airline 

Operators’ Revenues and Expenses in 

the United States 

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 October 25, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments to 

Christopher Stein, Chief, Services 

Surveys Branch, Bureau of Economic 

Analysis, by email to christopher.stein@

bea.gov or PRAcomments@doc.gov. 

Please reference OMB Control Number 

0608–0068 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 to 

christopher.stein@bea.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The Quarterly Survey of Foreign 

Airline Operators’ Revenues and 

Expenses in the United States (BE–9) 

collects data from U.S. offices, agents, or 

other representatives of foreign airline 

operators that transport passengers or 

freight and express to or from the 

United States. A U.S. office, agent, or 

other representative of a foreign airline 

operator must report if total covered 

revenues or total covered expenses were 

$5 million or more in the previous year 

or are expected to be $5 million or more 

during the current year. 

The data are needed to monitor trade 

in transport services, to analyze the 

impact of U.S. trade 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 transport 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 transport 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 modifications to the 

information collected on the BE–9 

survey, and a change to the survey due 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 161 / Tuesday, August 24, 2021 / Notices 47293 

date, beginning with the reporting 

period for first quarter 2022. The 

proposed modifications to the BE–9 

survey would eliminate the collection of 

certain items not currently needed to 

estimate international transactions in air 

transportation services and introduce 

new items that will increase the quality 

and usefulness of BEA’s statistics on 

trade in transport services. 

BEA proposes to eliminate the 

collection of several items on the BE–9 

survey: (1) Freight revenue on 

merchandise exported from, and 

imported to, the United States; (2) 

shipping weights on which freight 

revenues reported were earned, and (3) 

revenues from transporting passengers 

to or from the United States. BEA 

proposes to eliminate these items 

because the information collected is not 

currently used to estimate international 

transactions in air transportation 

services and is not expected to be 

needed in the future. 

BEA proposes to collect three 

additional foreign airline identification 

elements on the BE–9 survey: (1) The 

foreign airline’s country of residency, 

(2) the foreign airline’s International Air 

Transport Association (IATA) code, and 

(3) the International Civil Aviation 

Organization (ICAO) code. These 

elements will enable BEA to match 

information reported on the BE–9 with 

supplemental information received from 

other government agencies and increase 

the quality and accuracy of BEA’s 

statistics on trade in services. 

Additionally, BEA proposes to add 

foreign airliners’ in-flight sales revenue 

(total and by region) and expand the 

information collected on number of 

passengers to include the region. Inflight sales are revenues of the airline or 

a vendor for the purposes of 

consumption on the aircraft (food, 

drinks, Wi-Fi, pillows, etc.). The data 

will be used to close a gap in the 

ancillary fees component of air 

passenger transport. Collecting this 

information by region will allow BEA to 

produce more detailed statistics on 

trade in transport services because large 

differences exist across regions in perpassenger ancillary fee revenue, mostly 

corresponding to length of flight. BEA 

proposes to collect this item and 

number of passengers by region 

according to the three regional 

designations outlined by the U.S. 

Department of Transportation in 14 CFR 

241.21(g)—Atlantic Ocean, Pacific 

Ocean, and Latin America. These 

designations group Canada within the 

domestic category. Although revenue 

and expenses for Canada must be 

included in all other items on this 

survey, Canada will be excluded from 

the items on in-flight sales revenue and 

number of passengers. 

BEA also proposes to change the due 

date of the survey to 30 days after the 

close of each quarter from 45 days. 

Shortening the reporting timeline will 

allow BEA to produce more accurate 

and complete trade in transport services 

statistics in preliminary estimates of the 

ITAs, which is critical information for 

policymakers’ timely decisions on 

international trade policy. The earlier 

due date will allow BEA to use more 

reported data for preliminary statistics, 

improving the accuracy of both the 

aggregates and the country detail, 

reducing revisions in subsequent 

statistical releases. 

BEA estimates there will be no change 

in the average number of burden hours 

per response, which is currently 

estimated to be 6 hours. 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–9 forms within 30 

days after the end of each quarter. 

Reports would be required from U.S. 

offices, agents, or other representatives 

of foreign airline operators that 

transport passengers to or from the 

United States, whose total covered 

revenues or total covered expenses were 

$5 million or more during the previous 

year or are expected to exceed that 

amount during the current 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–9. 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: 0608–0068. 

Form Number(s): BE–9. 

Type of Review: Regular submission. 

Affected Public: Foreign airline 

operators. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

500 annually (125 filed each quarter; 

115 reporting mandatory data, and 10 

that would file exemption claims or 

voluntary responses). 

Estimated Time per Response: 6 hours 

is the average for those reporting data 

and one hour is the average for those 

filing an exemption claim. Hours may 

vary considerably among respondents 

because of differences in company size 

and complexity. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 2,800. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $0. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: International 

Investment and Trade in Services 

Survey Act (Pub. L. 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. 2021–18160 Filed 8–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–06–P 


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