(a) Findings

The Congress finds and declares that—

(1) the United States Government is presently authorized to collect limited amounts of information on United States investment abroad and foreign investment in the United States;

(2) international investment has increased rapidly within recent years;

(3) such investment significantly affects the economies of the United States and other nations;

(4) international efforts to obtain information on the activities of multinational enterprises and other international investors have accelerated recently;

(5) the potential consequences of international investment cannot be evaluated accurately because the United States Government lacks sufficient information on such investment and its actual or possible effects on the national security, commerce, employment, inflation, general welfare, and foreign policy of the United States;

(6) accurate and comprehensive information on international investment is needed by the Congress to develop an informed United States policy on such investment;

(7) United States service industries engaged in interstate and foreign commerce account for a substantial part of the labor force and gross national product of the United States economy, and such commerce is rapidly increasing;

(8) international trade and services is an important issue for international negotiations and deserves priority in the attention of governments, international agencies, negotiators, and the private sector; and

(9) existing estimates of international investment and trade in services, collected under existing legal authority, are limited in scope and are based on outdated statistical bases, reports, and information which are insufficient for policy formulation and decisionmaking.

(b) Purpose

Terms Used In 22 USC 3101

  • foreign: when used in a geographic sense, means that which is situated outside the United States or which belongs to or is characteristic of a country other than the United States. See 22 USC 3102
  • international investment: means (A) the ownership or control, directly or indirectly, by contractual commitment or otherwise, by foreign persons of any interest in property in the United States, or of stock, other securities, or short- and long-term debt obligations of a United States person, and (B) the ownership or control, directly or indirectly, by contractual commitment or otherwise, by United States persons of any interest in property outside the United States, or of stock, other securities, or short-and long-term debt obligations of a foreign person. See 22 USC 3102
  • United States: when used in a geographic sense, means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, and all territories and possessions of the United States. See 22 USC 3102

It is therefore the purpose of this chapter to provide clear and unambiguous authority for the President to collect information on international investment and United States foreign trade in services, whether directly or by affiliates, including related information necessary for assessing the impact of such investment and trade, to authorize the collection and use of information on direct investments owned or controlled directly or indirectly by foreign governments or persons, and to provide analyses of such information to the Congress, the executive agencies, and the general public. It is the intent of the Congress that information which is collected from the public under this chapter be obtained with a minimum burden on business and other respondents and with no unnecessary duplication of effort, consistent with the national interest in obtaining comprehensive and reliable information on international investment and trade in services.

(c) Nonrestraint and nondeterrence of investment

Nothing in this chapter is intended to restrain or deter foreign investment in the United States, United States investment abroad, or trade in services.

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