This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

52800 

Vol. 73, No. 177 

Thursday, September 11, 2008 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Economic Analysis 

15 CFR Part 806 

[Docket No. 080219210–8245–01] 

RIN 0691–AA65 

Direct Investment Surveys: BE–15, 

Annual Survey of Foreign Direct 

Investment in the United States 

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: This proposed rule amends 

regulations of the Bureau of Economic 

Analysis, Department of Commerce 

(BEA) to set forth reporting 

requirements for the BE–15, Annual 

Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in 

the United States. The BE–15 is 

conducted annually and is a sample 

survey that obtains financial and 

operating data on U.S. affiliates of 

foreign companies. BEA proposes the 

addition and deletion of items on the 

survey forms and changes to the 

reporting criteria. The changes to the 

BE–15 annual survey will: Reduce detail 

and raise reporting thresholds; extend 

the coverage of the survey to include 

banks; and bring the survey forms and 

instructions into conformity with the 

2007 BE–12, Benchmark Survey of 

Foreign Direct Investment in the United 

States. 

DATES: Comments on this proposed rule 

will receive consideration if submitted 

in writing on or before 5 p.m. November 

10, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 0691–AA65, 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, 

O.I.R.A., Paperwork Reduction Project 

0608–0034, 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: This 

proposed rule would amend 15 CFR 

806.15 to set forth the reporting 

requirements for the BE–15, Annual 

Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in 

the United States. 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. 

Description of Revisions 

The BE–15, Annual Survey of Foreign 

Direct Investment in the United States, 

is a mandatory survey and is conducted 

annually by BEA, under the 

International Investment and Trade in 

Services Survey Act (22 U.S.C. 3101– 

3108)—hereinafter, ‘‘the Act.’’ BEA will 

send the survey to potential respondents 

in March of each year; responses will be 

due by May 31. 

The proposed changes to the 2008 

annual survey are of three types: (1) 

Changes that will reduce detail and 

raise reporting thresholds, (2) changes 

that will extend the coverage of the 

survey to include banks, and (3) changes 

that align the BE–15 forms and 

instructions with those of the 2007 BE– 

12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct 

Investment in the United States. The 

BE–15 survey forms have been revised 

and, in some cases, renamed to facilitate 

these proposed changes. The proposed 

survey is comprised of four forms: Form 

BE–15A (currently named Form BE– 

15(LF)), Form BE–15B (currently named 

Form BE–15(SF)), Form BE–15(EZ) 

(name unchanged), and BE–15 Claim for 

Exemption (currently named BE–15 

Supplement C). 

In order to align BEA’s survey 

program with available resources, which 

have declined as a result of a recent 

reduction in BEA’s budget, some data 

items will be dropped from the forms, 

reporting thresholds will be raised, and 

use of statistical sampling will be 

expanded. The following data items will 

no longer be collected: Selected balance 

sheet items; the breakdown of sales of 

services to foreign persons into sales of 

services to the foreign parent group, to 

foreign affiliates owned by the affiliate, 

and to other foreign persons; the 

breakdown of employment and 

employee compensation by 

occupational classification; the 

breakdown of total employee 

compensation into wages and salaries 

and employee benefit plans; data on the 

composition of external finances; 

research & development employees; 

imports of goods intended for further 

manufacture; manufacturing 

employment by state; gross property, 

plant, and equipment by state; 

commercial property by state; and 

wholesale and retail trade items. 

Reporting thresholds will be raised and 

greater use will be made of sampling, 

allowing smaller companies to file every 

other year rather than annually. BEA 

proposes to (1) increase the threshold 

for reporting on Form BE–15A from 

$125 million to $275 million; (2) 


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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 177 / Thursday, September 11, 2008 / Proposed Rules 52801 

increase the threshold for reporting on 

Form BE–15B from $30 million to $120 

million; and (3) increase the threshold 

for reporting on Form BE–15(EZ) from 

$30 million to $40 million. Also, filing 

on Form BE–15(EZ) would be required 

only every other year. In alternate years, 

potential respondents would receive a 

letter indicating that they are not 

required to file for that year and asking 

them to update their contact 

information with BEA. The new 

reporting thresholds will still allow BEA 

to produce high quality statistics; 

however, some reduction in published 

detail will be necessary because of 

insufficient coverage in some cells. 

BEA proposes to collect data on bank 

affiliates on the BE–15 annual survey. 

Currently, collection of data on the BE–

15 annual survey is limited to that of 

nonbank U.S. affiliates. Data for bank 

affiliates is collected once every five 

years on BEA’s BE–12, Benchmark 

Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in 

the United States. This expansion in 

coverage of the BE–15 to include 

collection of data on bank affiliates is 

called for by the BEA Strategic Plan and 

is required to close a gap in BEA’s data 

on multinational companies. (Data for 

banks are being collected on the BE–11, 

Annual Survey of U.S. Direct 

Investment Abroad, beginning with the 

survey for 2007). To collect data for a 

U.S. affiliate that is a bank, BEA plans 

to use the same forms that will be used 

for nonbank affiliates. 

In order to align the BE–15 annual 

survey with the 2007 BE–12 benchmark 

survey, some detail that is no longer 

required will be eliminated from the 

BE–15A and several items will be added 

to the BE–15B. The BE–15A will no 

longer ask companies to identify 

expenditures for property, plant, and 

equipment as either new or used. On the 

BE–15B, items will be added to collect 

information on sales of goods, 

investment income, and sales of services 

for majority-owned U.S. affiliates. A 

further breakout of sales of services will 

be added to collect sales of services to 

U.S. persons and sales of services to 

foreign persons. Due to the proposed 

increase in the reporting threshold for 

the BE–15B, it is necessary to add these 

items to ensure adequate coverage at the 

industry and investing country level. 

Survey Background 

The Bureau of Economic Analysis 

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

will conduct the survey under the 

International Investment and Trade in 

Services Survey Act (22 U.S.C. 3101–

3108), hereinafter, ‘‘the Act.’’ Section 

4(a) of the Act provides that with 

respect to foreign direct investment in 

the United States, 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 as 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. 

In Section 3 of Executive Order 

11961, as amended by Executive Orders 

12318 and 12518, the President 

delegated the responsibility for 

performing functions under the Act 

concerning direct investment to the 

Secretary of Commerce, who has 

redelegated it to BEA. 

The annual survey is a sample survey 

that collects data on the financial 

structure and operations of U.S. 

affiliates of foreign companies needed to 

update similar data for the universe of 

U.S. affiliates collected once every 5 

years in the BE–12 benchmark survey. 

The sample data are used to derive 

universe estimates of the operations of 

U.S. affiliates of foreign companies, 

including their balance sheets; income 

statements; property, plant, and 

equipment; employment and employee 

compensation; merchandise trade; sales 

of goods and services; taxes; and 

research and development activity. The 

data are needed to measure the size and 

economic significance of foreign direct 

investment in the United States, 

measure changes in such investment, 

and assess its impact on the U.S. 

economy. Such data are generally found 

in enterprise-level accounting records of 

respondent companies. The data are 

disaggregated by industry of U.S. 

affiliate, by country and industry of 

foreign parent or ultimate beneficial 

owner, and, for employment data, by 

State. 

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 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (PRA). The requirement will be 

submitted to OMB for approval as a 

revision to a collection currently 

approved under OMB control number 

0608–0034. 

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 Paperwork 

Reduction Act unless that collection 

displays a currently valid Office of 

Management and Budget control 

number. 

The BE–15 survey, as proposed, is 

expected to result in the filing of reports 

from approximately 3,650 U.S. affiliates. 

The respondent burden for this 

collection of information is expected to 

vary from 20 minutes for the smallest 

and least complex company reporting 

on the BE–15 Claim for Exemption to 

470 hours for the largest and most 

complex company reporting on Form 

BE–15A, with an average burden of 18.6 

hours per response. Thus the total 

respondent burden for this survey—

including time for reviewing 

instructions, searching existing data 

sources, gathering and maintaining the 

data needed, and completing and 

reviewing the collection of 

information—is estimated at 68,000 

hours (3,650 responses times 18.6 hours 

average burden). Total respondent 

burden for the previous (2006) annual 

survey was estimated at 107,900 hours. 

The decrease in respondent burden is 

due to (1) increased reporting thresholds 

which reduce the total number of 

respondents and allow more 

respondents to file on shorter forms, (2) 

increased use of sampling which allows 

BE–15(EZ) filers to submit forms only in 

alternate years, and (3) a reduction in 

the number of data items on the form 

which reduces the average burden per 

form. 

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 


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52802 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 177 / Thursday, September 11, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

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, 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. Under the proposed 

regulations, foreign-owned U.S. 

businesses would be required to report 

on the BE–15 survey if they have total 

assets, sales or gross operating revenues, 

or net income that exceed $40 million. 

According the Small Business 

Administration’s Table of Small 

Business Size Standards, in most 

industries, businesses with $40 million 

of assets are not considered small 

businesses. The only industry for which 

the reporting requirements for the BE–

15 survey would affect small businesses, 

would be for certain types of banking 

and finance companies, where the 

threshold for being considered a small 

business is $175 million. BEA estimates 

that about 60 banking and finance 

affiliates would be considered small 

businesses and would have to report on 

the BE–15. About 20 of these small 

businesses would be required to file on 

the BE–15B, and about 40 (half in 

alternate years) would be required to file 

on the BE–15(EZ). Based on average 

burden hours per response of 3.5 hours 

for the BE–15B and 1.5 hours for the 

BE–15(EZ) in alternate years, BEA 

estimates the total respondent burden of 

the BE–15 on small companies to be 100 

hours out of a total estimated 

respondent burden on all companies of 

68,000 hours. 

Because few small businesses are 

subject to the reporting requirements 

and because those small businesses that 

are subject to reporting are subject to 

minimal recordkeeping burdens, the 

Chief Counsel for Regulation certifies 

that this proposed rule will not have a 

significant impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. 

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 806 

Economic statistics, Foreign 

investment in the United States, 

International transactions, Penalties, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

Dated: July 30, 2008. 

J. Steven Landefeld, 

Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

For 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), and E.O. 12518 (3 CFR, 1985 

Comp., p. 348). 

2. Section 806.15(i) is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 806.15 Foreign direct investment in the 

United States. 

* * * * * 

(i) Annual report form. BE–15—

Annual Survey of Foreign Direct 

Investment in the United States: One 

report is required for each consolidated 

U.S. affiliate exceeding an exemption 

level of $40 million. Form BE–15A must 

be filed by each majority-owned U.S. 

affiliate (a ‘‘majority-owned’’ U.S. 

affiliate is one in which the combined 

direct and indirect ownership interests 

of all foreign parents of the U.S. affiliate 

exceed 50 percent) for which at least 

one of the three items—total assets, 

sales or gross operating revenues 

excluding sales taxes, or net income 

after provision for U.S. income taxes—

exceeds $275 million (positive or 

negative). Form BE–15B must be filed 

by each majority-owned U.S. affiliate for 

which at least one of the three items—

total assets, sales or gross operating 

revenues excluding sales taxes, or net 

income after provision for U.S. income 

taxes—exceeds $120 million (positive or 

negative) but no one item exceeds $275 

million (positive or negative), and by 

each minority-owned U.S. affiliate (a 

‘‘minority-owned’’ U.S. affiliate is one 

in which the combined direct and 

indirect ownership interest of all foreign 

parents of the U.S. affiliate is 50 percent 

or less) for which at least one of the 

three items—total assets, sales or gross 

operating revenues excluding sales 

taxes, or net income after provision for 

U.S. income taxes—exceeds $120 

million (positive or negative). Form BE–

15(EZ) must be filed every other year by 

each U.S. affiliate for which at least one 

of the three items—total assets, sales or 

gross operating revenues excluding sales 

taxes, or net income after provision for 

U.S. income taxes—exceeds $40 million 

(positive or negative) but no one item 

exceeds $120 million (positive or 

negative). U.S. affiliates will be mailed 

Form BE–15(EZ) in years when they are 

required to file; in alternate years, these 

U.S. affiliates will be mailed a letter 

confirming that they are not required to 

file and asking them to update their 

contact information with BEA. A BE–15 

Claim for Exemption must be filed by 

each U.S. affiliate to claim exemption 

from filing a BE–15A, BE–15B, or BE–

15(EZ). Following an initial filing, the 

BE–15 Claim for Exemption is not 

required annually from those U.S. 

affiliates that meet the stated exemption 

criteria from year to year. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. E8–21070 Filed 9–10–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Economic Analysis 

15 CFR Part 806 

[Docket No. 080731960–81014–01] 

RIN 0691–AA66 

Direct Investment Surveys: BE–11, 

Annual Survey of U.S. Direct 

Investment Abroad 

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: This proposed rule amends 

regulations of the Bureau of Economic 

Analysis, Department of Commerce 

(BEA) to amend the reporting 

requirements for the BE–11, Annual 

Survey of U.S. Direct Investment 

Abroad. The BE–11 survey is conducted 

annually and is a sample survey that 

obtains financial and operating data 

covering U.S. parent companies and 

their foreign affiliates. BEA proposes 

changes in the reporting criteria that 

will raise the thresholds for reporting. 

DATES: Comments on this proposed rule 

will receive consideration if submitted 

in writing on or before 5 p.m. November 

10, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 0691–AA66, 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 


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