Notice to users of the import data products

Beginning with the January 2004 statistics scheduled for release on March 10, 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau will modify the structure of several import data products to accommodate the increasing number of special trade agreements. The changes to the products you are currently receiving will be:

1. The country subcode field will be expanded to 2 characters.
2. The US_goods field will be expanded to 2 characters.

These modifications will allow data users to produce more detailed reports for some of the existing trade agreements and provide space for expansion to identify new trade agreements.
In addition to the expanded field width, the coding structures will also change. This was done to align U.S. Census data products with the trade agreement designations in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) and with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency's import filing system. A list of the new coding structures (e.g. current-to-new) and the revised record layouts have been included. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the U.S. Census Bureau at:
(301) 763-2311 or e-mail the FTD Data Dissemination Branch.

More information is available on:

• Country Subcode, U.S. Goods, and Secondary Program Reference Guide and Concordance
• U.S. Goods Reference and Concordance
• Secondary Special Program Indicator (SPI_2) Reference
  
• Import Detail File Structure (IMP_DETL.DBF)