E6-9685. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

The Department of Commerce (DOC) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

Agency: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Commerce.

Title: Quarterly Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.

Form Number(s): BE-85.

Agency Approval Number: 0608-0065.

Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Burden: 5,000 hours.

Number of Respondents: 125 per quarter, 500 annually.

Average Hours Per Response: 10 hours.

Needs and Uses: The BE-85, Quarterly Survey of Financial Services Transactions Between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons, obtains quarterly data from financial services providers that have receipts from or payments to unaffiliated foreign persons in the financial services covered by the survey. The data 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, and improve the ability of U.S. businesses to identify and evaluate market opportunities.

The data from the survey are primarily intended as general purpose statistics. They are needed to answer any number of research and policy questions related to cross-border trade in financial services.

Affected Public: U.S. businesses, state and local governments, non-profit institutions or other for-profit institutions.

Frequency: Quarterly.

Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.

Legal Authority: International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (Pub. L. 94-472, 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108) and section 5408 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-418, 15 U.S.C. 4908(b)).

OMB Desk Officer: Paul Bugg, [phone].

You may obtain copies of the above information collection proposal by writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6625, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230, or e-mail [e-mail].

Send comments on the proposed information collection within 30 days of publication of this notice to the Office of Management and Budget, O.I.R.A., Attention PRA Desk Officer for BEA, e-mail [e-mail], or by FAX at 202-395-7245.

Dated: June 15, 2006.

Madeleine Clayton,

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.