International Services Surveys: BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons

These final rules revise regulations for the BE-80, Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons. The BE-80 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, and under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. The benchmark survey will be conducted for 1999. BEA will send the survey to potential respondents in January of the year 2000; responses will be due by March 31, 2000. The last benchmark survey was conducted for 1994. The benchmark survey will obtain universe data on trade in financial services, by type and by country, between U.S. financial services providers and unaffiliated foreign persons. Data from the BE- 80 survey (and the follow-on annual survey, the BE-82) are needed to monitor trade in financial services, analyze its impact on the U.S. and foreign economies, compile and improve the U.S. economic accounts, support U.S. commercial policy on financial services, conduct trade promotion, improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities, and for other Government uses. The revised rules raise the exemption level for the 1999 survey to $3 million in covered sales or purchases transactions, from $1 million on the previous (1994) survey. Raising the exemption level will reduce respondent burden, particularly for small companies. The revised rules also combine private placement services with underwriting services, combine foreign exchange brokerage services with other brokerage services, and create a separate category for electronic funds transfers. Finally, the revised rules restate the definition of ``financial services provider'' using the nomenclature of the new North American Industry Classification System that has replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification System. The changes