Direct Investment Surveys: Raising Exemption Level for Quarterly Report Form BE-577

This final rule amends regulations on direct investment surveys to raise the exemption level for filing quarterly Form BE-577, Direct Transactions of U.S. Reporter With Foreign Affiliate. The BE-577 is a mandatory survey of U.S. direct investment abroad conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce. Under this final rule, the exemption level for the survey--the level below which reports are not required--is raised from $15 million to $20 million. This change will reduce the number of respondents that otherwise must report in the survey.