5368.0 - International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia, Sep 2008  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 05/11/2008   
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CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE


CONFIDENTIALITY RESTRICTIONS

As advised in the September 2008 issue of International Merchandise Imports, Australia (cat. no 5439.0), the method used to confidentialise data for Imports of goods has changed. Data that have the confidentiality restrictions 'No commodity details' or 'No value details' are aggregated into a single confidential commodity code. For data prior to September 2008, these data are added back into the relevant state total and country total (i.e. these totals show the correct level of trade). From September 2008 these confidential data are not added back. Instead the confidential data are published as 'No country details' in the country totals and 'State not available for publication' in the state totals. Therefore, country and state totals from September 2008 may not represent the actual amount of trade in each country / state but only the trade in commodities without a 'No commodity details' or 'No value details' restriction. This change is necessary to ensure the confidentiality of data. Refer to the CCL attachment 1 (Appendix) (cat. no. 5372.0.55.001) for more details about these restrictions.

As a result of this new confidentiality arrangement, a new item 'State not available for publication' has been included in the imports part of publication table 15. A new Series ID A2529326T has been added to Time Series Spreadsheet table 15b for this item. The 'No country details' item is an existing series in table 14b. In addition, SITC item 792, Aircraft and associated equipment, has been removed from the imports major commodities list in table 13.

In addition, in the balance of payments series, the confidential items are included in the civil aircraft series from September 2008. For previous periods the confidential items are included in the other merchandise goods series.

These changes impact on the presentation of publication tables 4, 6, 8, 13, 14 and 15; the equivalent time series spreadsheets; and time series spreadsheet 37.