# Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act **CIPSEA** gives the recognized federal statistical agencies a confidentiality regime like the one [[Title 13]] gives the [[Census Bureau]]. It was first enacted in 2002 as Title V of the E-Government Act and rewritten in 2018 as Title III of the [[Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act]]. ## The pledge Information a statistical agency collects under a pledge of confidentiality: - may be used **for statistical purposes only**, - may not be disclosed in identifiable form, and - may not be used for any administrative, regulatory, law-enforcement or adjudicatory purpose against the respondent. A knowing, willful disclosure is a felony, carrying up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. This is what lets agencies with no Title 13 of their own, such as BLS, the Energy Information Administration, NCES and the National Center for Health Statistics, promise respondents that their answers can't be turned against them. ## What the 2018 rewrite added - **Codified duties.** The four fundamental responsibilities of statistical agencies were written into law at 44 U.S.C. § 3563, implemented by the 2024 "Trust Regulation" at 5 C.F.R. Part 1321 ([[Statistical Policy Directive No. 1]]). - **Data flowing in.** Statistical agencies got a presumption of access to other agencies' administrative data. This mirrors [[Title 13]]'s one-way valve, with data going in and not coming back out. - **Access for researchers.** Expanded secure access for outside researchers, through the [[Standard Application Process]] and the [[Federal Statistical Research Data Centers]]. ## Why it matters here The federal statistical system does not have one confidentiality law. It has several: Title 13, CIPSEA, 26 U.S.C. § 6103 for tax data, and HIPAA. Each one leaves the *method* of protection to a different official, which is why a single Commerce order could change what the Census Bureau and BEA may publish ([[Disclosure Avoidance for Statistical Products]]) without touching the statistical agencies housed in other departments ([[Census Data Access Crosswalk]]). The inflow design is also the part to watch. The 2030 plan to determine legal status from Treasury, DHS and other records ([[2030 Census Residence Rule]]) depends on data moving into statistical agencies. CIPSEA and Title 13 are what stop it from flowing back out to enforcement agencies, and both are ordinary statutes. ## See also - [[Title 13]] · [[Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act]] · [[Statistical Policy Directive No. 1]] - [[Census Data Access Crosswalk]] · [[Federal Statistical Research Data Centers]] · [[Standard Application Process]] - [[Federal Statistical System Tree]] · [[Interagency Council on Statistical Policy]] · [[Disclosure Avoidance for Statistical Products]]