§4906 Establishment of Data Bank

Summary

Within 2 years after August 23, 1988, the Secretary of Commerce must create and run a Data Bank. The Data Bank must have two parts: an International Economic Data System and an Export Promotion Data System. The International Economic Data System must give current and past economic and trade facts that the Secretary finds useful after the required consultation. It must not name parties to transactions. It covers U.S. and key foreign countries and includes information such as import and export totals and breakdowns by country, industry, product, and market; service trade; capital market data like interest and average exchange rates; foreign direct investment into the U.S.; labor market facts like wages, unemployment, and productivity trends; foreign government trade policies such as trade barriers and export financing; and U.S. import and export data by State and product (showing shipping country, State of first destination, port of entry, exporter State, port of departure, and destination country) as available. It may also include any other federal economic or trade data the Secretary thinks useful. The Export Promotion Data System must collect federal data on foreign industries and markets that are most important to U.S. exporters and export-promotion agencies, while protecting confidential business information. It must use effective electronic methods to share accurate, timely data. It should track specific business opportunities; industry details with market size, distribution, competition, key laws and standards, government contacts, and trade groups; country-level items like economic conditions, business practices, tariffs and barriers, and import/licensing/IP rules; export financing sources; barter and countertrade transactions; and other similar useful information.