Direct Investment Surveys: BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States-2002

This final rule revises regulations for the BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States. The BE-12 survey is mandatory and is conducted once every 5 years by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act. The benchmark survey will be conducted for 2002. BEA will send the survey to potential respondents in February of the year 2003; responses will be due by May 31, 2003. The prior benchmark survey was conducted for 1997. The benchmark survey covers virtually the entire universe of foreign direct investment in the United States in terms of value, and is BEA's most comprehensive survey of such investment in terms of subject matter. The revised rule raises the reporting threshold on the BE-12(SF) short form and the BE-12 Bank form from $3 million to $10 million; directs that only nonbank majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign companies report on the BE-12(LF) long form; raises the reporting threshold on the BE-12(LF) long form from $100 million to $125 million; and directs bank holding companies to file a fully consolidated report, including all nonbank operations, on the BE-12 Bank form. (Previously, the nonbanking operations were reported on a separate BE-12(LF) long form or BE-12(SF) short form.) These changes will reduce respondent burden, especially for small companies and bank holding companies.