The term "business proprietary information" (BPI) or "confidential business information" (CBI) is defined in the Commission's regulations at 19 C.F.R. §201.6. The regulations define confidential business information as information which concerns or relates to the trade secrets, processes, operations, style of works or apparatus, or to the production, sales, shipments, purchases, transfers, identification of customers, inventories, or amount or source of any income, profits, losses, or expenditures of any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other organization, or other information of commercial value, the disclosure of which is likely to have the effect of either impairing the Commission's ability to obtain such information as is necessary to perform its statutory functions, or causing substantial harm to the competitive position of the person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other organization from which the information was obtained, unless the Commission is required by law to disclose such information.

Parties can request confidential treatment of BPI and CBI during the Commission's investigations. Certain statutes and the Commission's regulations provide for the limited disclosure of certain BPI and CBI under an administrative protective order.