Direct Investment Surveys: BE-11, Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad

These final rules amend the reporting requirements for the BE- 11, Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad. The BE-11 survey is a mandatory survey and is conducted annually by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act. BEA will send the annual survey to potential respondents in March of each year; responses will be due by May 31. The last BE-11 annual survey was conducted for 1998. (A BE-11 survey is not conducted in a year, such as 1999, when a BE-10 Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad is conducted.) The survey is a cut-off sample survey that obtains financial and operating data covering the overall operations of nonbank U.S. parent companies and their nonbank foreign affiliates. These final rules increase the exemption level for reporting on the BE-11B(SF) short form and the BE-11C form from $20 million to $30 million; increase the exemption level for reporting on the BE-11B(LF) long form from $50 million to $100 million; and direct U.S. Reporters with total assets, sales or gross operating revenues, and net income less than or equal to $100 million (positive or negative) to report only selected items on the BE-11A form. These changes will reduce the number of reports that otherwise must be filed, thus reducing respondent burden, particularly for small companies.