Agency information collection activities: Proposed collection; comment request,

[Federal Register: July 10, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 132)]

[Notices]

[Page 37318-37319]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr10jy98-32]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis

Annual Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.

SUMMARY: 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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before September 8, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Linda Engelmeier, Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 5327, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or copies of the information collection instruments and instructions should be directed to: R. David Belli, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, BE-50(OC), Washington, D.C. 20230 (Telephone: 202-606-9800).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Abstract

   The Annual Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States (Form BE-15) is necessary to provide reliable, useful, and timely measures of foreign direct investment in the United States. The annual survey covers all affiliates above a size-exemption level and collects annual data on the financial structure and operations of nonbank 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 data are used to derive annual estimates of the operations of U.S. affiliates of foreign companies, including their balance sheets; income statements; property, plant, and equipment; external financing; employment and employee

   [[Page 37319]]

   compensation; merchandise trade; sales of goods and services; taxes; and research and development (R&D) activity. The data will be used to measure the economic significance of foreign direct investment in the United States and to analyze its effect on the U.S. economy. They will also be used in formulating, and assessing the impact of, U.S. policy on foreign direct investment.

   Several revisions to the survey are being proposed to bring it into conformity with the BE-12 Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States--1997. BEA proposes to raise the exemption level for the survey to $30 million on the BE-15(SF) short form, up from $10 million (measured by the company's total assets, sales, or net income or loss), thereby reducing respondent burden for small companies; on the survey's long form, the BE-15(LF), the exemption level will be raised to $100 million, up from $50 million. In addition, BEA proposes to base industry coding on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) in place of the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification system, and to modify the detail collected on the composition of external financing of the reporting enterprise, on research and development expenditures, and on the operations of foreign-owned businesses in individual States.

2. Method of Collection

   The BE-15 annual survey will be sent to potential respondents at the end of March each year. A completed report covering a reporting company's fiscal year ending during the previous calendar year will be due to be filedby May 31, 60 days after mailing. Reports must be filed by every nonbank U.S. business enterprise that is owned 10 percent or more by a foreign investor and that has total assets, sales, or net income (or loss) of over $30 million. Potential respondents are those U.S. business enterprises that report in the 1997 benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States, along with affiliates that subsequently enter the direct investment universe. The BE-15 is a cutoff-sample survey, as described; universe estimates are developed from the reported data.

3. Data

   OMB Number: 0608-0034.

   Form Number: BE-15.

   Type of Review: Regular submission.

   Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit organizations.

   Estimated Number of Respondents: 4,975.

   Estimated Time Per Response: 26 hours.

   Estimated Total Annual Burden: 128,000 hours.

   Estimated Total Annual Cost: $3,840,000 (based on an estimated reporting burden of 128,000 hours and an estimated hourly cost of $30).

4. 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 has 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 submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

   Dated: July 6, 1998. Linda Engelmeier, Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office of Management and Organization.

   [FR Doc. 98-18334Filed7-9-98; 8:45 am]

   BILLING CODE 3510-06-P