FAQs - General

Does the Bureau of the Census provide information on what specific companies are importing and exporting?

NO. All data that is collected by the Census Bureau is considered private and confidential. U.S. Code Title 13 makes it illegal for us to release data from individual respondents. Consequently, we compile data based on the commodities that are traded as opposed to the companies or individuals doing the trading.

This confidentiality also adds to the integrity of the trade data. Data from the decennial census (the census that happens every ten years) is also covered by Title 13. If your neighbors could go to the government and look up your annual income from the last census (which, by the way, they can't), would you be entirely honest about your income during the next census? Similarly, if you knew that your competition could go to the government and find out exactly what you're trading (and with whom you're trading it), wouldn't you try to be vague enough to make their job more difficult while still obeying trade laws?

GEN FAQ #0006