Direct Investment Surveys: BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States1997

These final rules revise 15 CFR 806.17 to set forth reporting requirements for the BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States--1997, and to delete the rules now in 15 CFR 806.17, which were for the last benchmark survey covering 1992. The BE-12 benchmark survey is conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce, under Section 3103(b) of the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act, which requires that a benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the United States be conducted every five years. The last benchmark survey was conducted for 1992. The benchmark survey will obtain universe data on the financial and operating characteristics of, and on positions and transactions between, U.S. affiliates and their foreign parents. The data from the quinquennial survey will provide benchmarks for deriving current universe estimates of foreign direct investment from sample data collected in other BEA surveys in nonbenchmark years. The data are needed to measure the economic significance of foreign direct investment in the United States, measure changes in such investment, assess its impact on the U.S. economy, and based upon this assessment, make informed policy decisions regarding foreign direct investment in the United States. They are also required for compiling the U.S. international transactions, input-output, and national income and product accounts, and for preparing estimates of the international investment position of the United States. Key changes from the previous benchmark survey include reducing respondent burden, particularly for small companies, by: increasing the exemption level for reporting on the survey to $3 million (measured by the company's total assets, sales, or net income) from $1 million in the 1992 survey; increasing the exemption level at which reporting on the long form version of the survey is required from $50 million to $100 million; and requiring reporting co