Data confidentiality

9.1 This chapter outlines how international merchandise trade statistics are confidentialised prior to their release. It explains the legal basis for confidentiality, the method of confidentiality imposed, the procedures used to manage confidentiality, and the effect of confidentiality on the statistics produced.

9.2 The ABS collects data from individuals and organisations as a routine part of statistical compilation. There is a legal and ethical responsibility for the ABS to respect and maintain the secrecy, privacy, and identity of those providing the information.

9.3 The majority of ABS data are collected under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (C&S Act). The C&S Act empowers the ABS to direct persons, businesses, and other entities to provide the data requested. As such, the ABS has procedures in place to protect the identity of data providers. This enables and maintains public trust in the ABS and high-quality national statistics.

9.4 The confidentiality of the data collected is protected by provisions in the C&S Act which prescribe the way statistical information can be disclosed. Section 12 of the C&S Act prohibits publication or dissemination of statistics "in a manner that is likely to enable the identification of a particular person or organisation".

9.5 International merchandise trade statistics provided under the C&S Act are subject to the Census and Statistics (Information Release and Access) Determination 2018 (The Determination). The Determination provides for the release of a restricted range of information, including identifiable information about businesses and organisations, under special circumstances.

9.6 Under The Determination, foreign trade statistics derived wholly or in part from customs or imports documents, are subject to "passive confidentiality".  This means that international merchandise trade statistics are permitted for release without explicit regard to confidentiality, unless and until an individual or organisation demonstrates that such disclosure would be likely to enable the identification of that individual or organisation in the statistics. These individuals and organisations are referred to as “claimants” and their identifiability is protected through the application of an appropriate “restriction”.

9.7 The ABS recognises that detailed commodity statistics for exported and imported goods play an important role in the analysis of Australia's trade with the rest of the world. However, this need for detailed information must be balanced with a claimant's entitlement to data confidentiality.

9.8 Where confidentiality is required in international merchandise trade statistics, a restriction method is applied which reduces the risk of disclosure through re-classification of the identifiable data to a confidential commodities grouping.

9.9 The ABS determines the type of restriction by balancing the impact of statistical information available and the claimants' legal entitlements.

9.10 A variety of restrictions are available to protect the confidentiality of a claimant's data and each type of restriction is designed to protect a particular aspect of the data. The most appropriate restriction depends on the extent to which the claimant’s activities are identifiable. Restrictions are placed at the commodity level, and the data is restricted for all trade in that commodity, not just the data relating to the particular claimant/s.

9.11 The various confidentiality restrictions used are described in Table 9.1. These are presented in order of their impact – from most to least restrictive.

9.12 Table 9.2 sets out confidentiality restrictions that were previously used but have been discontinued prior to November 2023.

9.13 To demonstrate an example of a commonly applied confidentiality restriction and associated impact on the statistics, Tables 9.3 and 9.4 provide a comparison of a set of state by commodity synthetic aggregates with and without the application of a ‘No State Details’ restriction.

9.14 For a complete list of all the confidentiality restrictions applied to merchandise trade statistics since January 1988, refer to Table 92 of ABS publication International Trade in Goods – located in the ‘Data downloads’ section.

9.15 Where data are presented on an annual or year-to-date basis, users should take special care when interpreting the data in case there has been a change in confidentiality restrictions during the period.

9.16 For example, if a 'No Country Details' restriction is applied to a commodity for the first half of the year, and removed for the second half of the year, country data for that commodity for the full year will only reflect trade in the second half of the year. Data for the first half of the year will be included in the item 'combined confidential items' in statistics for that country. Complete data may not be presented for trade in the restricted item with any individual country, however any excluded data will be included in the individual country and commodity at the total level.

9.17 Users need to be aware that more highly aggregated statistics may also be affected by confidentiality restrictions. Using the example in the previous paragraph, not only will annual country statistics for the specific commodity be potentially incomplete, but country statistics for broader classifications such as ANZSIC, SITC or BEC, which include the confidential item, may also be incomplete.

9.18 Export and import concordances are accessible from the ‘Data downloads’ section of this publication. The historical correspondence for AHECC can be found in Appendix 6.1, and Customs tariff in Appendix 6.2. For an explanations of abbreviations, please see this link.

9.19 If an individual or organisation (the claimant) is concerned that the release of international merchandise trade data may identify their trade, they may submit a confidentiality ‘claim’. This is a request for an investigation to be undertaken into the identifiability of their data. If you wish to make such a request/claim, please download the ‘Confidentiality request form’ (available from the 'Data downloads' section of this publication) and return the completed form as per the included instructions.

9.20 After a claim has been received, the ABS will investigate the number of traders for the relevant commodity and the respective significance of their trade. If the investigation confirms that the claimant’s trade is likely to be identified, an appropriate restriction will be implemented from the next available reference month.

9.21 The application of a restriction for a particular commodity does not mean that it will be applied to all future statistics. Restrictions are reviewed at least every two years to determine whether they are still appropriate in their current form. When changes in trading patterns are identified, a restriction may be removed or amended.

9.22 In the lead up to a review, the ABS will contact the claimant (via the relevant contact officer) to request an updated ‘Confidentiality request form’ if the confidentiality claim is still required. If after multiple contact attempts, the claimant does not respond by the deadline, the ABS deactivates the claim, which may lead to the removal of one or more restrictions.

9.23 Outside of regular reviews, there are other scenarios that may lead to restrictions being modified or removed, including: a significant change in the pattern of trade; additional importers/exporters submitting claims for a restricted commodity; and a claimant informing the ABS that they are ceasing their claim for the relevant commodity.

Confidential data removed from country and state totals 

9.24 From September 2008 onwards for imports/clearances and from June 2013 onwards for exports, the method used to confidentialise country and state single dimension statistics changed. Country and state data subject to a 'No commodity details' or 'No value details' restriction are aggregated into a single confidential commodity code. Prior to September 2008 for imports and June 2013 for exports, all data were included in the relevant state total and country total (i.e. there are no excluded data from these totals).

Confidentiality of non-merchandise data for imports

9.25 Additional confidentiality restrictions apply to the non-merchandise trade Customs Tariff item, 9999319902. This code has the following confidentiality restrictions in place: 'No country details', 'No state details', 'No duty details', has been assigned a mode of transport = U (Unknown) and the data has not been added into country or state totals.

9.26 The confidentiality method applied to international merchandise trade statistics causes negative values to be displayed in some outputs. These values are deliberate adjustments for balancing purposes, to prevent double counting of data subject to confidentiality restrictions. For example, trade subject to a ‘No Country Details’ restriction contributes separately at the total commodity and total country levels. To prevent double counting across the totals in the dataset, a negative adjustment is also applied.

9.27 Where a commodity code has been confidentialised, it may be possible to release data aggregated over a longer period (for example quarterly, six-monthly, or annually), and/or aggregated across selected commodities, with a reduced confidentiality restriction. This is known as time and commodity aggregation.

9.28 Reports of this nature are checked to ensure that confidentiality is preserved. Greater level of aggregation often leads to the application of less impactful confidentiality restrictions.

9.29 Supply of these non-standard statistics is on a user pay basis and due to competing priorities, the ABS may not have capacity to supply data on an aggregation basis. Any request for aggregate data should be addressed to the International Trade Section, Australian Bureau of Statistics: international.trade@abs.gov.au.