What is a Guam import? It is something brought in from the United States or a foreign country, intended for sale or trade in Guam. Agents from the Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency (GCQA) process imports at its service centers located at the Port Authority of Guam and Guam Airport Cargo area. Imports are manually codified by its commodity classification code based on information reported excludes the military, government, promotional and personal items.

The U.S. government adopted the Harmonized System on January 1, 1989, as the direct basis for its new export and import classification systems. Guam, as well as most of the nations of the world, adopted this system on January 1, 1988. The Bureau of Statistics and Plans is using the established simplified Harmonized Systems as adopted by the former Department of Commerce. All documents submitted to the GCQA for release of cargo must contain information as outlined in §3005.1, 3005.2 and 3005.3 of the former Department of Commerce Administrative Rules and Regulations. Section 3005.1 defines imports and exports of goods and sets up guidelines to insure certain information is included on each official import and export document.

The promulgated administrative rules and regulations as authorized by Title VLIV, Chapter 1, §47064 GCA now rests with the Bureau of Statistics and Plans. The Bureau, as mandated by Public Laws No. 20-147 and 26-76, shall conduct, or cause to be conducted, investigations, studies, surveys, research and analysis relating to physical, human, asocial, and economic development of Guam and to publish the results. The rules and regulations concern the collecting of socio-economic information from businesses and individuals.

For 2014, the External Trade Section captured imports for the months of March, June, September and December, and in 2015 January, April, July and October. For 2016 and beyond months captured will be determined on an adhoc basis.