[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 65 (Friday, April 4, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16136-16138]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8580]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Export Trade Certificate of Review

ACTION: Notice of Issuance of an Export Trade Certificate of Review, 
Application No. 96-00007.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an Export Trade 
Certificate of Review to the Committee for the Fair Allocation of Rice 
Quotas (``Committee''). This notice summarizes the conduct for which 
certification has been granted.

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. The regulations implementing 
Title III are found at 15 CFR Part 325 (1996).
    The Office of Export Trading Company Affairs (``OETCA'') 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 Certified Conduct

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 3: 
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

[[Page 16137]]

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 quota will be offered on open tender to the highest 
bidder 30 days prior to the release of each TRQ 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. The Committee, through its consultant, will offer the TRQ 
tranche in 20 ton increments. Anyone, whether a member of the Committee 
or not, will be eligible to bid, upon posting a bid bond equal to five 
percent of the bid.
    d. Thirty days prior to the beginning of each TRQ tranche, the 
Committee will publish a request to bid in the Journal of Commerce. 
Potential bidders will have five working days to respond to the bid 
request. (If the EU announces the opening of a TRQ tranche less than 30 
days before the opening of that tranche, the consultant will publish 
the required notice within 2 working days of the EU announcement and 
specify a bid date that is at least 5 working days after the notice is 
published.) 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 upon 
payment of monies bid. Additionally, the certificates will be tradable.
    e. In the event that identical highest bids are submitted on 
available tonnage of TRQ, the consultant will award the available 
tonnage on a pro-rata basis among the relevant bidders.
    2. The Committee will use membership fees to pay for the costs of 
operating the quota tender system. Any operating costs not covered by 
the assessment of membership fees will be paid from the quota proceeds.
    3. During the first year, the Committee will redistribute all 
remaining proceeds as follows:
    a. 50 percent to the Rice Foundation, a non-profit organization 
established as the research and development arm of the U.S.A. Rice 
Federation;
    b. 50 percent to the U.S.A. Rice Federation or the Rice Millers' 
Association for international market promotion activities; and
    c. Zero percent to Members according to their proportionate share 
of world exports of U.S. origin rice during the previous marketing 
year.
    4. For subsequent years, the distribution percentages in item 3 may 
be modified to allow the distribution of proceeds to Members according 
to their proportionate share of world exports of U.S. origin rice 
during the previous marketing year.
    5. Bidders will provide the consultant with bidding information on 
a confidential basis. The consultant may release only the identity of 
the winning bidder(s). After the first year, if a distribution is to be 
made to Members, the Members will provide information on their share of 
world exports of U.S. origin rice independently and on a confidential 
basis. This information shall be kept confidential.
    6. 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 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 distribution 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. In engaging in Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation, 
neither the Committee, the consultant, 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 the 
Committee's 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.

Members (Within the Meaning of Section 325.2(l) of the Regulations)

    Louis Dreyfus Corporation, Wilton, Connecticut; and, Riviana Foods, 
Inc., Houston, Texas.

Definitions

    ``Member'' means a member of the Committee who has been certified 
as a ``Member'' within the meaning of Sec. 325.2(l) 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

[[Page 16138]]

milling or that has exported U.S. origin 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 one-time membership fee 
of $3,000. 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.

Protection Provided by Certificate

    This Certificate protects the Committee, its Members, and 
directors, officers, and employees acting on behalf of the Committee 
and its Members from private treble damage actions and government 
criminal and civil suits under U.S. federal and state antitrust laws 
for the export conduct specified in the Certificate and carried out 
during its effective period in compliance with its terms and 
conditions.

Effective Period of Certificate

    This Certificate continues in effect from the effective date 
indicated below until it is relinquished, modified, or revoked as 
provided in the Act and the Regulations.

Other Conduct

    Nothing in this Certificate prohibits the Committee and its Members 
from engaging in conduct not specified in this Certificate, but such 
conduct is subject to the normal application of the antitrust laws.

Disclaimer

    The issuance of this Certificate of Review to the Committee by the 
Secretary of Commerce with the concurrence of the Attorney General 
under the provisions of the Act does not constitute, explicitly or 
implicitly, an endorsement or opinion by the Secretary of Commerce or 
by the Attorney General concerning either (a) the viability or quality 
of the business plans of the Committee or its Members or (b) the 
legality of such business plans of the Committee or its Members under 
the laws of the United States (other than as provided in the Act) or 
under the laws of any foreign country.
    The application of this Certificate to conduct export trade where 
the United States Government is the buyer or where the United States 
Government bears more than half the cost of the transaction is subject 
to the limitations set forth in Section V.(D.) of the ``Guidelines for 
the Issuance of Export Trade Certificates of Review (Second Edition),'' 
50 Fed. Reg. 1786 (January 11, 1985).
    In accordance with the authority granted under the Act and 
Regulations, this Certificate of Review has been granted to the 
Committee for the Fair Allocation of Rice Quotas.
    A copy of the Certificate will be kept in the International Trade 
Administration's Freedom of Information Records Inspection Facility, 
Room 4001, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230.

    Dated: March 31, 1997.
W. Dawn Busby,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-8580 Filed 4-3-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P