[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 227 (Friday, November 22, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59418-59419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-29865]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Export Trade Certificate of Review

ACTION: Notice of application.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Export Trading Company Affairs (``OETCA''), 
International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, has 
received an application for an Export Trade Certificate of Review. This 
notice summarizes the conduct for which certification is sought and 
requests comments relevant to whether the Certificate should be issued. 
Applicant has requested expedited review.

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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title III of the Export Trading Company Act 
of 1982 (15 U.S.C. 4001-21) authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to 
issue Export Trade Certificates of Review. A Certificate of Review 
protects the holder and the members identified in the Certificate from 
state and federal government antitrust actions and from private, treble 
damage antitrust actions for the export conduct specified in the 
Certificate and carried out in compliance with its terms and 
conditions. Section 302(b)(1) of the Act and 15 CFR 325.6(a) require 
the Secretary to publish a notice in the Federal Register identifying 
the applicant and summarizing its proposed export conduct.

Request for Public Comments

    Interested parties may submit written comments relevant to the 
determination whether a Certificate should be issued. An original and 
five (5) copies should be submitted no later than 20 days after the 
date of this notice to: Office of Export Trading Company Affairs, 
International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, Room 1800H, 
Washington, D.C. 20230. Information submitted by any person is exempt 
from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). 
Comments should refer to this application as ``Export Trade Certificate 
of Review, application number 96-00007.'' A summary of the application 
follows.

Summary of the Application

    Applicant: Committee for the Fair Allocation of Rice Quotas 
(``CFARQ''), 3050 K Street, N.W., Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20007.
    Contact: Laurence J. Lasoff, Attorney, Telephone: (202) 342-8400.
    Application No.: 96-00007.
    Date Deemed Submitted: November 8, 1996.
    Members (in addition to applicant): Cargill Incorporated, 
Greenville, Mississippi; Louis Dreyfus Corporation, Wilton, 
Connecticut; and Riviana Foods, Inc., Houston, Texas.
    CFARQ seeks a Certificate to cover the following specific Export 
Trade, Export Markets, and Export Trade Activities and Methods of 
Operations.

Export Trade

Products

    Semi-milled and wholly milled rice, whether or not polished or 
glazed (Harmonized Tariff Schedule 1006.30) (referred to as ``milled 
rice'') and husked (brown) rice (Harmonized Tariff Schedule 1006.20).

Export Markets

    For purposes of administering the European Union's tariff rate 
quota: The countries of the European Union.
    For purposes of Export Trade Activity and Method of Operation: All 
parts of the world except the United States (the fifty states of the 
United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific 
Islands).

Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation

    1. The Committee will administer a system for allocating the U.S. 
share of the European Union (``EU'') tariff rate quotas (``TRQs'') for 
milled rice and brown rice (roughly 38,000 tons of milled rice and 
8,000 tons of brown rice) agreed to as compensation to the United 
States for the enlargement of the EU to include Austria, Finland, and 
Sweden, as follows:
    a. The Committee will operate a quota tender system in which 
certificates of quotas will be offered on open tender to the highest 
bidder 30 days prior to the release of each quota tranche, as defined 
by the EU.
    b. The administration of the quota tender system will be carried 
out by an independent economic consultant, who will be retained by the 
Committee for purposes of administering the tender program.
    c. Thirty days prior to the beginning of each tranche of tariff 
rate quota, the Committee, through its consultant, will offer separate 
sub-parcels of quota amounting to 100 tons each. Anyone, whether a 
member of the Committee or not, will be eligible to bid on each sub-
parcel, upon posting a five percent bid bond.
    d. The Committee will issue a written request to bid on each 
available sub-parcel, as well as an official form on which to place the 
bid. Potential bidders will have five working days to respond to the 
bid request. All bid information will be returned to the consultant 
within five working days. At the close of the five day period, the 
consultant will award certificates of quotas to the highest bidder on 
each sub-parcel upon payment of monies bid. Additionally, the 
certificates will be re-tradeable.
    e. In the event that identical bids are submitted on a particular 
sub-parcel, the consultant will split the parcel among the relevant 
bidders.
    2. The Committee will oversee the redistribution of proceeds 
arising out of the administration of the quota tender system as 
follows:
    a. The Committee will not decide on the distribution of proceeds 
arising out of a particular quota year until the passage of at least 
one year after the conclusion of the quota year in question.
    b. Once the proceeds from a particular quota year become eligible 
for distribution, the Committee will decide on the amount and method of 
distribution based on a four-fifths vote of the member companies.
    c. In considering the method of redistribution the Committee may 
take into account a number of factors including: (1) the share of the 
European market held by the individual members during the period; (2) 
the share of the world market held by the individual members during the 
period; (3) extraordinary factors that may have affected individual 
members during the period; and (4) such other factors as the Committee 
deems appropriate.
    3. The Committee and/or its Members may use funds generated through 
the quota tender process to conduct market development activities if 
the Committee so chooses. The Committee and/or its Members may exchange 
or discuss information necessary for the carrying out of such programs.
    4. The Committee and/or its Members may:
    a. Provide for an administrative structure to implement the 
foregoing tariff rate quota system, relating to the U.S.-EU 
Compensation Agreement and EU regulations, including the hiring of

[[Page 59419]]

an independent economic consultant to administer the quota tender 
system;
    b. Exchange and discuss information regarding the structure and 
method for administering the foregoing tariff rate quota system, 
relating to the U.S.=EU Compensation Agreement and EU regulations;
    c. Discuss the type of information needed regarding past 
transactions and exports that are necessary for administering the 
foregoing tariff rate quota system relating to the U.S.-EU regulations 
and for effectuating any redistribution of proceeds arising out of the 
administration of the system.

Abbreviated Amendment Procedures

    New Committee members may be incorporated in the Certificate 
through an abbreviated amendment procedure. An abbreviated amendment 
shall consist of a written notification to the Secretary of Commerce 
and the Attorney General identifying the Committee members that desire 
to become members under the Certificate pursuant to the abbreviated 
amendment procedure and certifying for each such member so identified 
its sale of individual products in its prior fiscal year. Notice of the 
members so identified shall be published in the Federal Register. 
However, the Committee may withdraw one or more individual members from 
the application for the abbreviated amendment. If 30 days or more 
following publication in the Federal Register, the Secretary of 
Commerce, with the concurrence of the Attorney General, determines that 
the incorporation in the Certificate of these members through the 
abbreviated amendment procedure is consistent with the standards of the 
Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall amend the Certificate to 
incorporate such members, effective as of the date on which the 
application for amendment is deemed submitted. If the Secretary of 
Commerce does not within 60 days of publication in the Federal Register 
so amend the Certificate, such amendment must be sought through the 
non-abbreviated amendment procedure.

Terms and Conditions of Certificate

    1. Except as expressly authorized in Export Trade Activity and 
Methods of Operation 4(C), in engaging in Export Trade Activities and 
Methods of Operation, neither the Committee nor any Member shall 
intentionally disclose, directly or indirectly, to any other Member 
(including parent companies, subsidiaries, or other entities related to 
any Member not named as a Member) any information regarding its or any 
other Member's costs, production, inventories, domestic prices, 
domestic sales, capacity to produce Products for domestic sale, 
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. The Committee and its 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 
believes that the information or documents are required to determine 
that the Export Trade, Export Trade Activities and 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.

Definitions

    ``Member'' means a member of the Committee who has been certified 
as a ``Member'' within the meaning of Section 325.1(1) of the 
Regulations. Members must sign the Operating Agreement of the Committee 
in order to participate in the certified activities. Any U.S. company, 
that is actively engaged in rice milling or that has exported U.S. rice 
in the preceding or current calendar year and that wishes to 
participate in the activities covered by this certificate, may join the 
Committee's membership by executing the Operating Agreement and paying 
a membership fee of $3,000 per calendar year. Any Committee member that 
is not a listed Member may join the Committee's export trade 
certificate of review by requesting that the Committee file for an 
amended certificate. A Member may withdraw from coverage under this 
certificate at any time by giving written notice to the Committee, a 
copy of which the Committee will promptly transmit to the Secretary of 
Commerce and the Attorney General.

    Dated: November 18, 1996.
W. Dawn Busby,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 96-29865 Filed 11-21-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F