81 FR 30597 - 30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Reporting Requirements on Responsible Investment in Burma

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 95 (May 17, 2016)

Page Range		30597-30598
FR Document		2016-11707

The Department of State has submitted the information collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 we are requesting comments on this collection from all interested individuals and organizations. The purpose of this Notice is to allow 30 days for public comment.

Federal Register, Volume 81 Issue 95 (Tuesday, May 17, 2016)

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 95 (Tuesday, May 17, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30597-30598]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-11707]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice: 9562]


30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Reporting 
Requirements on Responsible Investment in Burma

ACTION: Notice of request for public comment and submission to OMB of 
proposed collection of information.

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SUMMARY: The Department of State has submitted the information 
collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for approval. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 we 
are requesting comments on this collection from all interested 
individuals and organizations. The purpose of this Notice is to allow 
30 days for public comment.

DATES: Submit comments directly to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) up to June 16, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Direct comments to the Department of State Desk Officer in 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB). You may submit comments by the following 
methods:
     Email: [email protected]. You must include the 
DS form number, information collection title, and the OMB control 
number in the subject line of your message.
     Fax: 202-395-5806. Attention: Desk Officer for Department 
of State.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Direct requests for additional 
information regarding the collection listed in this notice, including 
requests for copies of the proposed collection instrument and 
supporting documents, to Stacey May, U.S. Department of State, DRL/EAP 
Suite 7817, 2201 C St. NW., Washington, DC 20520, who may be reached on 
202-647-8260 or at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
     Title of Information Collection: Reporting Requirements on 
Responsible Investment in Burma.
     OMB Control Number: 1405-0209.
     Type of Request: Extension of a Currently Approved 
Collection.
     Originating Office: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and 
Labor Multilateral and Global Affairs (DRL/MLGA).
     Form Number: No form.
     Respondents: U.S. persons and entities engaged in new 
investment in Burma in an amount over $500,000 in aggregate, per OFAC 
General License 17, which authorizes new investment in Burma.
     Estimated Number of Respondents: 150.
     Estimated Number of Responses: 150.
     Average Time per Response: 21 hours.
     Total Estimated Burden Time: 3,150 hours.
     Frequency: Within 180 days of new investment in Burma over 
$500,000, annually thereafter.
     Obligation to Respond: Mandatory.
    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department to:
     Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department.
     Evaluate the accuracy of our estimate of the time and cost 
burden for this proposed collection, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used.
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected.
     Minimize the reporting burden on those who are to respond, 
including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.
    Please note that comments submitted in response to this Notice are 
public record. Before including any detailed personal information, you 
should be aware that your comments as submitted, including your 
personal information, will be available for public review.

Abstract of Proposed Collection

    Section 203(a)(1)(B) of the International Emergency Economic Powers 
Act (IEEPA) grants the President authority to, inter alia, prevent or 
prohibit any acquisition or transaction involving any property, in 
which a foreign country or a national thereof has any interest, by any 
person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of 
the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with 
respect to any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source 
in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national 
security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States. See 50 
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.
    In Executive Order 13047 of May 20, 1997, the President determined 
that the actions and policies of the Government

[[Page 30598]]

of Burma, including its large-scale repression of the democratic 
opposition in Burma, constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat to 
the national security and foreign policy of the United States, declared 
a national emergency to deal with that threat, and prohibited new 
investment in Burma. In subsequent Executive Orders, the President 
modified the scope of the national emergency to address additional 
concerns with the actions and policies of the Government of Burma. In 
Executive Order 13448 of October 18, 2007, the President modified the 
emergency to address the continued repression of the democratic 
opposition in Burma, manifested in part through the commission of human 
rights abuses and pervasive public corruption. In Executive Order 13619 
of July 11, 2012, the President further modified the emergency to 
address, inter alia, human rights abuses particularly in ethnic areas.
    In response to several political reforms by the Government of Burma 
and pursuant to authority granted by IEEPA, the Department of the 
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a general 
license (GL 17) on July 11, 2012 authorizing new investment in Burma, 
subject to certain restrictions and conditions.
    In order to support the Department of State's efforts to assess the 
extent to which new U.S. investment authorized by GL 17 furthers U.S. 
foreign policy goals of improving human rights protections and 
facilitating political reform in Burma, GL 17 requires U.S. persons 
engaging in new investment in Burma to report to the Department of 
State information related to such investment, as laid out in the 
``Reporting Requirements on Responsible Investment in Burma,'' 
(hereafter referred to as the ``collection''). This collection is 
authorized by section 203(a)(2) of IEEPA, which grants the President 
authority to keep a full record of, and to furnish under oath, in the 
form of reports or otherwise, complete information relative to any act 
or transaction referred to in section 203(a)(1) of IEEPA.

Methodology

    The Department of State will collect the information requested via 
electronic submission.

Additional Information

    It is the overarching policy goal of the U.S. Government to support 
political reform in Burma towards the establishment of a peaceful, 
prosperous, and democratic state that respects human rights and the 
rule of law. In the past, some foreign investment in Burma has been 
linked to human rights abuses, particularly in the area of natural 
resource development in ethnic minority regions. For example, some 
foreign investments have entailed acquisition and control of land in 
disputed ethnic minority territories exacerbating or contributing to 
both social unrest and armed conflict and leading to adverse community 
and/or environmental impacts. Increased military/security presence, 
particularly in disputed ethnic minority areas, to provide security for 
foreign investment projects is reported to have led to seizures of farm 
land, involuntary relocations, forced labor, torture, summary 
execution, and sexual violence.
    The collection will help the Department of State, in consultation 
with other relevant government agencies, to evaluate whether easing the 
ban on investment by U.S. persons advances U.S. foreign policy goals to 
address the national emergency with respect to Burma. In addition, the 
Department of State will use the collection as a basis to conduct 
informed consultations with U.S. businesses to encourage and assist 
such businesses to develop robust policies and procedures to address 
any potential adverse human rights, worker rights, anti-corruption, 
environmental, or other impacts resulting from their investments and 
operations in Burma. The Department of State will use the collection of 
information about new investment with the Myanmar Oil and Gas 
Enterprise (MOGE) to track investment that involves MOGE and to 
identify investors with whom it may be beneficial to have targeted 
consultation on anti-corruption and human rights policies. The public, 
including civil society actors in Burma, may use publicly available 
information resulting from the collection to engage U.S. businesses on 
their responsible investment policies and procedures and to monitor the 
Burmese government's management of revenues from investment.
    U.S. persons to whom this requirement applies will be required to 
submit a version of the report to the U.S. Government for public 
release, from which information considered in good faith to be exempt 
from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 4--i.e. trade secrets or 
commercial or financial information that is privileged or 
confidential--may be withheld. The Department of State will make this 
version of the report publically available in order to promote 
transparency with respect to new U.S. investments in Burma. In the 
past, the absence of transparency or publicly available information 
with respect to foreign investment activities in Burma has contributed 
to corruption and misuse of public funds, the erosion of public trust, 
and social unrest in ethnic minority areas and has led to further human 
rights abuses and repression by the government and military. Public 
disclosure of certain aspects of the collection therefore will promote 
the policy of transparency through new U.S. investment, a key U.S. 
foreign policy objective in Burma.
    Burmese civil society groups, particularly those representing 
ethnic minority communities, have requested that the Department of 
State make public certain information obtained through the collection 
on investments purportedly made for the benefit of the Burmese people, 
as a means of holding their own government accountable. Nobel Peace 
Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Burma's democratic 
opposition party and recently elected to a seat in Burma's parliament, 
also underscored the importance of transparency in her recent remarks 
in Bangkok, noting that she did not want ``more investment to mean more 
possibilities for corruption.'' This was among the most specific of the 
recommendations she made to the international community, stressing that 
``Transparency is very important if we are going to avoid problems in 
the future . . . So whatever investments, governmental agreements, 
whatever aid might be proposed, please make sure that it is 
transparent, that the people of Burma are in a position to understand 
what has been done, and how and for whom the benefits are intended.''
    Therefore public release of portions of this collection is aimed at 
providing civil society this type of information to both ensure the 
transparency of U.S. investment in Burma and to encourage civil society 
to partner with their government and U.S. companies towards building 
responsible investment, which ultimately promotes U.S. foreign policy 
goals.

Susan O'Sullivan,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2016-11707 Filed 5-13-16; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4710-18-P

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 95 / Tuesday, May 17, 2016 / Notices 30597

21235–6401. Phone (410) 965–4696, Dated: May 10, 2016. Multilateral and Global Affairs (DRL/
email Maria.Radvansky@ssa.gov. Jonathan A. Margolis, MLGA).
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for • Form Number: No form.
Patrick Perzan, • Respondents: U.S. persons and
Science, Technology and Health, Bureau of
Deputy Associate Commissioner, Office of Oceans and International Environmental and entities engaged in new investment in
Budget, Office of Budget, Finance, Quality, Scientific Affairs. Burma in an amount over $500,000 in
and Management.
[FR Doc. 2016–11624 Filed 5–16–16; 8:45 am] aggregate, per OFAC General License 17,
[FR Doc. 2016–11576 Filed 5–16–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710–09–P which authorizes new investment in
BILLING CODE 4191–02–P Burma.
• Estimated Number of Respondents:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE 150.
• Estimated Number of Responses:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice: 9562]
150.
30-Day Notice of Proposed Information • Average Time per Response: 21
[Public Notice: 9563] Collection: Reporting Requirements on hours.
Responsible Investment in Burma • Total Estimated Burden Time: 3,150
Section 7058(c) Determination for Zika hours.
Virus ACTION:Notice of request for public • Frequency: Within 180 days of new
comment and submission to OMB of investment in Burma over $500,000,
SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 7058(c) of annually thereafter.
the Department of State, Foreign proposed collection of information.
• Obligation to Respond: Mandatory.
Operations, and Related Appropriations SUMMARY: The Department of State has We are soliciting public comments to
Act, 2015 (Div. J, Pub. L. 113–235) and submitted the information collection permit the Department to:
the authority delegated to her by the described below to the Office of • Evaluate whether the proposed
Secretary of State under Delegation of Management and Budget (OMB) for information collection is necessary for
Authority 245–1, notice is hereby given approval. In accordance with the the proper functions of the Department.
that, on April 5, 2016, Deputy Secretary Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 we • Evaluate the accuracy of our
of State for Management and Resources are requesting comments on this estimate of the time and cost burden for
Heather Higginbottom has determined collection from all interested this proposed collection, including the
that an international outbreak of the individuals and organizations. The validity of the methodology and
Zika virus is sustained, severe, and is purpose of this Notice is to allow 30 assumptions used.
spreading internationally, and that it is days for public comment. • Enhance the quality, utility, and
in the national interest to respond to the clarity of the information to be
DATES: Submit comments directly to the
related Public Health Emergency of collected.
Office of Management and Budget
International Concern.
(OMB) up to June 16, 2016. • Minimize the reporting burden on
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE those who are to respond, including the
ADDRESSES: Direct comments to the
CONTACT: Aditi Nigam, U.S. Department use of automated collection techniques
Department of State Desk Officer in the
of State, 2201 C Street NW., or other forms of information
Office of Information and Regulatory
Washington, DC 20520, (202) 647–4029, technology.
Affairs at the Office of Management and
nigama@state.gov. Please note that comments submitted
Budget (OMB). You may submit
in response to this Notice are public
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section comments by the following methods:
record. Before including any detailed
7058(c) of the Department of State, • Email: oira_submission@
personal information, you should be
Foreign Operations, and Related omb.eop.gov. You must include the DS
aware that your comments as submitted,
Programs Appropriations Act, 2015 form number, information collection
including your personal information,
(Div. J, P.L. 113–235) provides that: title, and the OMB control number in
will be available for public review.
If the Secretary of State determines and the subject line of your message.
reports to the Committees on Appropriations • Fax: 202–395–5806. Attention: Desk Abstract of Proposed Collection
that an international infectious disease Officer for Department of State. Section 203(a)(1)(B) of the
outbreak is sustained, severe, and is FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: International Emergency Economic
spreading internationally, or that it is in the Direct requests for additional
national interest to respond to a Public
Powers Act (IEEPA) grants the President
information regarding the collection authority to, inter alia, prevent or
Health Emergency of International Concern,
funds made available under title III of this
listed in this notice, including requests prohibit any acquisition or transaction
Act may be made available to combat such for copies of the proposed collection involving any property, in which a
infectious disease or public health instrument and supporting documents, foreign country or a national thereof has
emergency: Provided, That funds made to Stacey May, U.S. Department of State, any interest, by any person, or with
available pursuant to the authority of this DRL/EAP Suite 7817, 2201 C St. NW., respect to any property, subject to the
subsection shall be subject to prior Washington, DC 20520, who may be jurisdiction of the United States, if the
consultation with, and the regular reached on 202–647–8260 or at President declares a national emergency
notification procedures of, the Committees maysa2@state.gov.
on Appropriations.
with respect to any unusual and
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: extraordinary threat, which has its
Exercising this authority with respect • Title of Information Collection: source in whole or substantial part
jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

to the Zika virus outbreak allows funds Reporting Requirements on Responsible outside the United States, to the
made available in the bilateral economic Investment in Burma. national security, foreign policy, or
assistance accounts in the Department • OMB Control Number: 1405–0209. economy of the United States. See 50
of State, Foreign Operations, and • Type of Request: Extension of a U.S.C. 1701 et seq.
Related Programs Appropriations Act, Currently Approved Collection. In Executive Order 13047 of May 20,
2015 to be used to respond to the Zika • Originating Office: Bureau of 1997, the President determined that the
outbreak. Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor actions and policies of the Government

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Document Created: 2018-02-07 15:05:29
Document Modified: 2018-02-07 15:05:29

Category		Regulatory Information
Collection		Federal Register
sudoc Class		AE 2.7: GS 4.107: AE 2.106:
Publisher		Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
Section		Notices
Action		Notice of request for public comment and submission to OMB of proposed collection of information.
Dates		Submit comments directly to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) up to June 16, 2016.
Contact		Direct requests for additional information regarding the collection listed in this notice, including requests for copies of the proposed collection instrument and supporting documents, to Stacey May, U.S. Department of State, DRL/EAP Suite 7817, 2201 C St. NW., Washington, DC 20520, who may be reached on 202-647-8260 or at [email protected]
FR Citation		81 FR 30597