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International Trade Administration Web Site Privacy Policy

Effective Date: October 24, 2005

Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting an International Trade Administration (ITA) Web site. ITA promotes U.S. exports and American manufacturing and services industries, protects U.S. business interests abroad, safeguards American industries and jobs against unfair trade, and enforces U.S. trade laws. In support of these activities, ITA operates the export.Gov trade portal and other Web sites that occasionally collect business or personal information from our customers. We do not collect this type of information without the voluntary consent of the site visitor. ITA and the Department of Commerce extend the same protection to business identifiable information that is afforded to personally identifiable information.

The main purpose of this policy is to inform our visitors that you have rights under the Privacy Act, that all business or personal information provided to ITA is on a voluntary basis, and that information provided will be protected to the extent permitted by the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Freedom of Information Act of 1966. At each location where information is collected, we make every effort to explain explicitly how the information you provide will be used, and we allow you to determine if you consent to provide such information.

For more information on the Freedom of Information Act and your rights under the Privacy Act please visit the Federal Citizen Information Center site at http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call/foia.htm.

All information submitted by visitors is voluntary. Submitting information constitutes your consent for ITA to use the information for the purpose stated and indicates to us you are aware of ITA's Privacy Policy provisions. The specific practices outlined in this privacy statement apply to Web sites maintained by or on behalf of ITA. Generally, ITA Web sites do not provide content for children and we do not collect personally identifiable information from children. Other organizations in the Federal government and the Department of Commerce may have slightly different practices, though the overarching commitment to your privacy will always be the same. As you follow links on our Web site to visit other trade-related Web sites, you are encouraged to review their privacy policies. When you follow a link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policies of the new site.

Our sites do not use "persistent cookies" or any persistent tracking technologies that can identify a specific visitor, or information about that visitor, over multiple visits. However, some ITA websites do use "session cookies" that identify the visitor for the duration of a browsing session. Session cookies are deleted from our Web servers when your session ends.

ITA does collect certain non-personal information to help us better service our site visitors. Information collected includes, for example, the IP (Internet Protocol) address from which you accessed our site, the IP address of the Web site from which you linked to us, the name of your domain, the type of browser and operating system you are using, the date and time our site is accessed, and the pages visited. This information does not identify you personally.

Information Collected from E-Mail, Forms and through Site Registration: Information you submit may be viewed by various people within the ITA and other Federal agencies actively involved with international trade. If you register on one of our Web sites to obtain a benefit, report a trade complaint, or use any of our services, you may submit personally identifiable information, such as name, title, name/size of company, or address. Certain ITA services are reserved for U.S. firms, and we may use the registration information to contact you for verification purposes before allowing access to the requested service. Information collected from the public on our Web sites has been authorized by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as required under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Security, Intrusion, and Detection : Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to our websites, are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under applicable Federal law. For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to the information on our Web sites. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

Links to Other Web Sites: Our Web sites contain links to other federal agencies and private organizations. Web sites of those organizations may contain links to outside organizations. This linking does not constitute an endorsement by ITA. These links are provided for user convenience only.

For more information, please review the Department of Commerce Privacy Policy Statement at http://www.commerce.gov/privacystatement.html.

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