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

Riepilogo

This proposed rule will amend 15 CFR 806.14 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 proposed rule, the exemption level for the survey--the level below which reports are not required--would be raised from $15 million to $20 million. This change will reduce the number of respondents that otherwise must report in the survey, thus reducing both the reporting and processing burdens. (As noted below, however, BEA is proposing the addition of a number of items to the survey form that do not require a rule change and that will increase reporting burden, exactly offsetting the reduction in burden due to raising the exemption level.)