[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] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Export Trade Certificate of Review ACTION: Notice of Issuance of an Amended Export Trade Certificate of Review, Application No. 84-A0005. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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