03-28612. Data Sharing Activity

AGENCY:

Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice of determination.

SUMMARY:

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will provide to the Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) data collected from the Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States—1997 and the Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad—1999 for statistical purposes exclusively. In accordance with the requirement of Section 524(d) of the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA), we provided the opportunity for public comment on this data-sharing action (see the July 7, 2003 edition of the Federal Register (68 FR 40241)). Through the use of these shared data, the Census Bureau will augment its existing research and development (R&D)-related data collected in the Survey of Industrial Research and Development, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Census Bureau will also identify data quality issues arising from reporting differences in the BEA and Census Bureau surveys and improve its survey sample frames. The NSF will be provided non-confidential aggregate public use data and reports that have cleared BEA and Census Bureau disclosure review. Disclosure review is a process conducted to verify that the data to be released do not reveal any confidential information.

DATES:

BEA will make the data collected from the Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States—1997 and the Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad—1999 available to the Census Bureau on November 18, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information on this program should be directed to Ned Howenstine, Chief, Research Branch, International Investment Division, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BE-50), Washington, DC 20230, by phone on [phone] or by fax [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

CIPSEA (Pub. L. 107-347, Title V) and the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (Pub. L. 94-472, 22 United States Code (U.S.C.) 3101-3108) allow BEA and the Census Bureau to share certain business data for statistical purposes exclusively. Section 524(d) of the CIPSEA required a Federal Register notice announcing the intent to share data (allowing 60 days for public comment).

On July 7, 2003 (68 FR 40241), BEA published in the Federal Register a notice of this proposed data-sharing activity and request for comment on the subject. BEA did not receive any public comments.

Shared Data

BEA will provide the Census Bureau with data collected from the Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States—1997 and the Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad—1999. The Census Bureau also will share data from the 1997 and 1999 Surveys of Industrial Research and Development with BEA. The Census Bureau issued separate notices addressing this issue (68 FR 33094, June 2, 2003 and 68 FR 54201, September 16, 2003).

BEA will provide the Census Bureau with only those data items necessary to link records from the two benchmark surveys with records from the Census Bureau's Surveys of Industrial Research and Development. The Census Bureau will use these data for statistical purposes exclusively. Through record linkage, the Census Bureau will augment its existing R&D-related data, identify data quality issues arising from reporting differences in the Census Bureau and BEA surveys, and improve its survey sample frames.

Statistical Purposes for the Shared Data

The data collected from the Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States—1997 and the Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad—1999 are used to estimate expenditures on research and development performed by U.S. affiliates of foreign companies and U.S. parent companies, R&D employment, and other statistics on the financial structure and operations of these companies. Statistics from the Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States—1997 were published in Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: Final Results From the 1997 Benchmark Survey; statistics from the Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad—1999 will be published in U.S. Direct Investment Abroad: Final Results From the 1999 Benchmark Survey (forthcoming). All data are collected under sections 3101-3108, of Title 22 U.S.C.

Data Access and Confidentiality

Title 22, U.S.C. 3104 protects the confidentiality of these data. These data may be seen only by persons sworn to uphold the confidentiality of the information. Access to the shared data will be restricted to specifically authorized personnel and will be provided for statistical purposes only. Any results of this research are subject to BEA disclosure protection. All Census Bureau employees with access to these data will become BEA Special Sworn Employees—meaning that they, under penalty of law, must uphold the data's confidentiality. Selected NSF employees will provide BEA with expertise on the aspects of R&D performance in the United States and by U.S. companies abroad; these NSF consultants assisting with the work at the BEA also will become BEA Special Sworn Employees. No confidential data will be provided to the NSF. To further safeguard the confidentiality of these data, BEA will conduct an Information Technology security review of the Census Bureau prior to the commencement of the project. Any results of this research are subject to BEA disclosure protection.

Dated: November 4, 2003.

J. Steven Landefeld,

Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis.