[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 188 (Thursday, September 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50469-50471]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-24516]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Export Trade Certificate of Review

ACTION: Notice of Issuance of an Amended Export Trade Certificate of 
Review, Application No. 84-A0005.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an amendment to the 
Export Trade Certificate of Review granted to Farmers' Rice 
Cooperative(``Farmers' '') on May 10, 1984. Notice of issuance of the 
Certificate was published in the Federal Register on May 17, 1984 (49 
FR 20890).

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 11, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: W. Dawn Busby, Director, Office of 
Export Trading Company Affairs, International Trade Administration, 
(202) 482-5131. This is not a toll-free number.


[[Page 50470]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title III of the Export Trading Company Act 
of 1982 (15 U.S.C. Sections 4001-21) authorizes the Secretary of 
Commerce to issue Export Trade Certificates of Review. The regulations 
implementing Title III are found at 15 CFR Ch. III Part 325 (1995).
    The Office of Export Trading Company Affairs is issuing this notice 
pursuant to 15 CFR 325.6(b), which requires the Department of Commerce 
to publish a summary of a Certificate in the Federal Register. Under 
Section 305(a) of the Act and 15 CFR 325.11(a), any person aggrieved by 
the Secretary's determination may, within 30 days of the date of this 
notice, bring an action in any appropriate district court of the United 
States to set aside the determination on the ground that the 
determination is erroneous.

Description of Amended Certificate

    An interim Certificate of Review was issued to Farmers' Rice 
Cooperative (``FRC'') on March 12, 1984 (49 FR 9762, March 15, 1984). 
The final Certificate was issued on May 10, 1984 (49 FR 20890, May 17, 
1984) and an amendment to the Certificate was issued on August 30, 1985 
(50 FR 36126, September 5, 1985).
    Farmers's Export Trade Certificate of Review has been amended to:
    1. Add each of the following companies as a new ``Member'' of the 
Certificate within the meaning of section 325.2(1) of the Regulations 
(15 C.F.R. 325.2(1)): American Rice, Inc. of Houston, Texas 
(Controlling Entity: ERLY Industries Inc. of Los Angeles, California) 
and California Pacific Rice Milling, Ltd. of Arbuckle, California.
    2. Delete the following companies as ``Members'': Comet Rice of 
California, Inc.; Pacific International Rice Mills, Inc.; and C. E. 
Grosjean Milling Company.
    3. Amend the ``Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation'', 
to read as follows:
    (1) Farmers' Rice Cooperative may, on a transaction-by-transaction 
basis, join with any or all of the Members to bid for the sale of, and 
to sell, California rice and rice products to the Export Markets.
    (2) For each bid or sale, Farmers' Rice Cooperative and/or one or 
more of the Members may negotiate and agree on the terms of their 
participation in the bid or sale, and, in order to negotiate those 
terms, may exchange only the following information:
    (a) information (other than information about the costs, output, 
capacity, inventories, domestic prices, domestic sales, domestic 
orders, terms of domestic marketing or sale or United States business 
plans, strategies or methods of Farmers' Rice Cooperative or any other 
Member) that is already generally available to the trade or public,
    (b) information (such as selling strategies, prices, projected 
demand, and customary terms of sale) solely about the Export Markets, 
and
    (c) information on expenses specific to exporting to the Export 
Markets (such as ocean freight, inland freight to the terminal or port, 
terminal or port storage, wharfage and handling charges, insurance, 
agents' commissions, export sales documentation and service, and export 
sales financing)
    (3) For each bid or sale, the amount of California rice or rice 
products Farmers' Rice Cooperative and/or one or more of the Members 
will commit to the sale and the price to be bid may be determined in 
the following manner:
    (a) Farmers' Rice Cooperative and the participating Member or 
Members will, without prior consultation among each other, provide the 
price and quantity information to an independent third-party.
    (b) The independent third-party will independently incorporate such 
information into the joint bid or sales arrangement. For the purposes 
of this provision, ``independently'' means that the independent third-
party will not disclose the information obtained from Farmers' Rice 
Cooperative and/or one Member to another Member and/or Farmers' Rice 
Cooperative.
    (c) Neither Farmers' Rice Cooperative nor any participating Member 
shall intentionally obtain the information described in 3(a) above from 
the independent third-party.
    (d) For purposes of this provision, ``independent third-party'' 
shall mean any individual, partnership, corporation (public or non-
public) or any other entity (hereinafter collectively referred to as 
``entity''), or any representative thereof, which is not an officer, 
director, principal, affiliate, subsidiary or employee of any entity 
that mills or grows California rice and/or rice products.
    (4) Farmers' Rice Cooperative may negotiate with the Members to 
provide, and may provide, the storage, shipping and delivery, and 
associated services needed for each sale, including but not limited to 
export brokerage, processing of export orders, inspection and quality 
control, transportation, freight forwarding and trade documentation, 
insurance, billing of foreign buyers and collection (letters of credit 
and other financial instruments).
    (5) Farmers' Rice Cooperative and/or one or more of the Members 
may, with respect to each bid, refuse to include in their bid any other 
company having rice and rice products for export.
    (6) Farmers' Rice Cooperative may solicit Non-member Suppliers to 
sell their Products through the certified activities of Farmers' Rice 
Cooperative and its Members.
    (7) Farmers' Rice Cooperative and/or one of the Members may 
purchase products from Non-member Suppliers to fulfill specific sales 
obligations, provided that Farmers' Rice Cooperative and/or the Members 
shall make purchases only on a transaction-by-transaction basis and 
when Members are unable to supply, in a timely manner, the requisite 
Products at a price competitive under the circumstances.
    4. Under the heading ``Terms and Conditions of Certificate'', 
delete section (a) and replace sections (b) and (c) with the following:
    (1) Except as expressly authorized in Export Trade Activity and 
Methods of Operation, paragraphs (2) and (3), in engaging in Export 
Trade Activities and Methods of Operation, neither Farmers' Rice 
Cooperative nor any Member shall intentionally disclose, directly or 
indirectly, to each other or to any Non-member Supplier (including 
parent companies, subsidiaries, or other entities related to any Member 
not named as a Member) any information that is about its or any other 
Member's or Non-member Supplier's costs, production, capacity, 
inventories, domestic prices, domestic sales, domestic orders, terms of 
domestic marketing or sale, or U.S. business plans, strategies, or 
methods, unless (1) such information is already generally available to 
the trade or public; or (2) the information disclosed is a necessary 
term or condition (e.g. price, time required to fill an order, etc.) of 
an actual or potential bona fide export sale and the disclosure is 
limited to the prospective purchaser.
    (2) Each Member shall determine independently of other Members the 
quantity of Products the Member will make available for export. Neither 
Farmers' Rice Cooperative nor any Member may solicit from any Member 
specific quantities for export or require any Member to export any 
minimum quantity of products.
    (3) Farmers' Rice Cooperative and/or the Members will comply with 
requests made by the Secretary of Commerce on behalf of the Secretary 
or the Attorney General for information or documents relevant to 
conduct under the Certificate. The Secretary of Commerce will request 
such information or documents when either the Attorney General or the 
Secretary of Commerce

[[Page 50471]]

believes that the information or documents are required to determine 
that the Export Trade Activities or Methods of Operation of a person 
protected by this Certificate of Review continue to comply with the 
standards of Section 303(a) of the Act.
    5. Delete the heading ``Members'' and its accompanying text.
    6. Add a new heading, ``Definitions'', with the following text:
    (1) Members, within the meaning of Section 325.2(l) of the 
Regulations, means American Rice, Inc. and California Pacific Rice 
Milling, Ltd.. Firms may withdraw from Member status by notifying the 
Department of Commerce in writing.
    (2) Non-member Supplier shall mean any producer (including farmers 
and farm cooperatives), miller, or broker of California rice and rice 
products, apart from Farmers' Rice Cooperative, American Rice, Inc., 
and California Pacific Rice Milling, Ltd..
    A copy of the amended certificate will be kept in the International 
Trade Administration's Freedom of Information Records Inspection 
Facility, Room 4102, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230.

    Dated: September 19, 1996.
W. Dawn Busby,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 96-24516 Filed 9-25-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-U