Notice2024-12450
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Services Surveys: BE-125, Quarterly Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intellectual Property With Foreign Persons
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 6, 2024
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentEconomic Analysis Bureau
Abstract
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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 110 (Thursday, June 6, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 110 (Thursday, June 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48367-48368]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12450]
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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-125, Quarterly Survey of Transactions in
Selected Services and Intellectual Property With Foreign Persons
AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.
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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 August 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to
Christopher Stein, Chief, Services Surveys Branch, Bureau of Economic
Analysis, by email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#402328322933342f302825326e333425292e002225216e272f36"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8ae9e2f8e3f9fee5fae2eff8a4f9feefe3e4cae8efeba4ede5fc">[email protected]</span></a> or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#85d5d7c4e6eae8e8e0ebf1f6c5e1eae6abe2eaf3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a2f2f0e3c1cdcfcfc7ccd6d1e2c6cdc18cc5cdd4">[email protected]</span></a>.
Please reference OMB Control Number 0608-0067 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 at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#46252e342f353229362e2334683532232f280624232768212930"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="81e2e9f3e8f2f5eef1e9e4f3aff2f5e4e8efc1e3e4e0afe6eef7">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The Quarterly Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and
Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons (Form BE-125) is an ongoing
survey that collects data from U.S. persons who engage in covered
transactions in selected services or intellectual property with foreign
persons. A U.S. person means any individual, branch, partnership,
associated group, association, estate, trust, corporation, or other
organization (whether or not organized under the laws of any State),
resident in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the
United States. A U.S. person must report if they had combined sales of
covered services or intellectual property to foreign persons that
exceeded $6 million for the previous fiscal year, or are expected to
exceed that amount during the current fiscal year, or if they had
combined purchases of covered services or intellectual property from
foreign persons that exceeded $4 million for the previous fiscal year,
or are expected to exceed that amount during the current fiscal year.
The data are needed to monitor U.S. trade in services, to analyze
the impact of these cross-border services 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 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
trade in 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 a minor
modification to the survey beginning with reporting for the first
quarter of 2025 to further align BEA's statistics with international
guidelines and to collect additional information that can be used to
improve the current estimation methodologies for published services
transactions, increasing the quality and usefulness of BEA's statistics
on trade in services.
BEA proposes to separately collect space passenger and space
freight services to better measure space transport services. Currently,
the BE-125 Quarterly Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and
Intellectual Property with Foreign Persons collects transactions for
``Space transport services'' (transaction code 38) as a single category
on the survey. The transactions would be collected separately as 38.1
(passenger) and 38.2 (freight). Collecting separate categories for
space passenger and space freight transport services would improve
BEA's measurement for these growing economic activities, which are
currently based on publicly available reports.
BEA estimates there will be no change in the average number of
burden hours per response because of the small number of reporters who
will be impacted by the change. Furthermore, the affected reporters
should not experience a noticeable impact to burden because the data
are already collected by BEA as a combined transaction category, and it
is believed this additional level of detail is readily available in
their accounting records.
BEA does not plan to change the exemption levels used for the
current quarterly survey. 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-125
forms within 30 days after the end of each fiscal quarter
[[Page 48368]]
that is not the final fiscal quarter of the year and within 45 days
after the close of the final fiscal quarter of the year. Reports would
be required from each U.S. person that had combined sales of covered
services or intellectual property to foreign persons that exceeded $6
million for the previous fiscal year, or are expected to exceed that
amount during the current fiscal year, or that had combined purchases
of covered services or intellectual property from foreign persons that
exceeded $4 million for the previous fiscal year, or that are expected
to exceed that amount during the current fiscal 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-125. For more information about eFile, go to
<a href="http://www.bea.gov/efile">www.bea.gov/efile</a>. In addition, BEA posts all its survey forms and
reporting instructions on its website, <a href="http://www.bea.gov/ssb">www.bea.gov/ssb</a>. These may be
downloaded, completed, printed, and submitted via fax or mail.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0608-0067.
Form Number(s): BE-125.
Type of Review: Regular submission.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,200 annually (2,800 filed each
quarter; 2,200 reporting mandatory data by country and affiliation, and
600 that would file exemption claims or voluntary responses).
Estimated Time per Response: 21 hours is the average for the 2,200
respondents filing data by country and affiliation and 1 hour for those
filing an exemption claim or voluntary response. Hours may vary
considerably among respondents because of differences in company size
and complexity.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 187,200.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: International Investment and Trade in Services
Survey Act (Public Law 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. 2024-12450 Filed 6-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-06-P
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