[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 191 (Monday, October 4, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59186-59187]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-22216]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

[Docket Number 040916269-4269-01]


Notice of Data Sharing Activity

AGENCY: Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of determination.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) will provide certain 
business data from its Business Register and its 2002 Economic Census 
to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) for statistical purposes 
exclusively. Through the use of these shared data, the BEA expects to 
improve the quality of data collected by the Census Bureau

[[Page 59187]]

under the authority of Title 13 of the United States Code (U.S.C.), and 
collected by the BEA under the authority of the International 
Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act by identifying data-quality 
issues arising from reporting differences in the Census Bureau and BEA 
surveys. The Census Bureau and BEA will publish nonconfidential 
aggregate reports (public use) that have cleared the BEA and Census 
Bureau disclosure review.

DATES: The Census Bureau will make certain business data collected from 
the 2002 Economic Census, as discussed in this notice, available to BEA 
on October 4, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information on 
this proposed program should be directed to Mr. Julius Smith, Jr., 
Chief, Special Studies Branch, Manufacturing and Construction Division, 
U.S. Census Bureau, 4700 Silver Hill Road, Washington, DC 20233-6900, 
by phone at (301) 763-7662, by fax at (301) 457-1318 or by e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The CIPSEA (Pub. L. 107-347, Subtitle V; 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) 
and the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act (Pub. 
L. 94-472 as amended; 22 U.S.C. 3101-3108) allow the BEA and the Census 
Bureau to share certain business data for exclusively statistical 
purposes. Section 524(d) of the CIPSEA requires a Federal Register 
notice announcing the intent to share data (allowing 60 days for public 
comment). On June 30, 2004 (69 FR 39408), the Census Bureau published 
in the Federal Register a notice of this proposed data-sharing activity 
and requested comments on the subject. The Census Bureau did not 
receive any public comments.

Shared Data

    The Census Bureau will provide the BEA with certain business data 
from its Business Register and collected from the 2002 Economic Census. 
The BEA also will share data from its 2002 Foreign Direct Investment in 
the United States survey. The BEA issued a separate notice addressing 
this issue.
    The BEA will use these data for statistical purposes exclusively. 
Through record linking, the BEA expects to improve the quality of data 
collected under the authority of Title 13 of the U.S.C. and the 
International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act by 
identifying data-quality issues arising from reporting differences in 
the Census Bureau and the BEA surveys.

Statistical Purposes for the Shared Data

    The data from the Business Register and from the 2002 Economic 
Census are used to estimate employment, payroll, and receipt data of 
U.S. companies. Statistics from the census are published in separate 
data publications. All data are collected under Sections 131 and 224 of 
Title 13 of the U.S.C.

Data Access and Confidentiality

    Title 13 of the U.S.C. protects the confidentiality of these data. 
The 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. All BEA employees with access to these 
data will become Census Bureau Special Sworn Status Employees-meaning 
that they, under penalty of law, must uphold the data's 
confidentiality. To further safeguard the confidentiality of the data, 
the Census Bureau has conducted an Information Technology Security 
Review of the BEA. The results of this project are subject to 
disclosure review. Disclosure review is a process conducted to verify 
that the data to be released do not reveal any confidential 
information.

    Dated: September 29, 2004.
Charles Louis Kincannon,
Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. 04-22216 Filed 10-1-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P