15 CFR § 50.50 - Request for certification.
(a) Upon request, the Census Bureau certifies certain statistical materials (such as the population and housing unit counts of government entities, published tabulations, maps, and other documents). The Census Bureau charges customers a preset fee for this service according to the kind of certification requested (either an impressed document or an attestation) and the level of difficulty involved in compiling it (easy, moderate, or difficult, determined according to the resources expended) as well as the set cost of the data product (e.g., report or map) to be certified. Certification prices are shown in the following table:
Price by Type of Certification
| Product | Estimated price | Estimated time to complete
(in hours) |
|---|---|---|
| Impress-easy | $70.00 | 1.5 |
| Impress-medium | 110.00 | 3 |
| Impress-difficult | 150.00 | 4.5 |
| Attestation-easy | 160.00 | 3 |
| Attestation-medium | 200.00 | 4.5 |
| Attestation-difficult | 240.00 | 6 |
(b) There are two forms of certification available: Impressed Documents and Attestation.
(1) Impressed documents. An impressed document is one that is certified by impressing the Census Bureau seal on the document itself. The Census Bureau act, Title 13, United States Code, Section 3, provides that the seal of the Census Bureau shall be affixed to all documents authenticated by the Census Bureau and that judicial notice shall be taken of the seal. This process attests that the document on which the seal is impressed is a true and accurate copy of a Census Bureau record.
(2) Attestation. Attestation is a more formal process of certification. It consists of a signed statement by a Census Bureau official that the document is authentic and produced or published by the agency, followed by a signed statement of another Census Bureau official witnessing the authority of the first.
(c) Requests for certification should be submitted on Form BC–1868(EF), Request for Official Certification, to the Census Bureau by fax, (301) 457–4714 or by e-mail, webmaster@census.gov. Form BC–1868(EF) is available on the Census Bureau's Web site at: http://www.census.gov/mso/www/certification/. A letter request—without Form BC–1868(EF)—will be accepted only if it contains the information necessary to complete a Form BC–1868(EF). No certification request will be processed without payment of the required fee.