[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 84 (Thursday, May 1, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23764-23766]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-11288]


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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.97-00001.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an Export Trade 
Certificate of Review to Dairy Marketing Information Association. 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 
publishing 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

    Dry sweet whey; 35% whey protein concentrate (``WPC''), and edible 
grade lactose. (Standard Industrial Classification Code 202-2023)
Export Trade Facilitation Services (as they Relate to the Export of 
Products)
    Export Trade Facilitation Services including professional services 
in the areas of consulting, marketing and trade promotion, legal 
assistance, communication and processing of sales leads and export 
orders, and negotiation of price to be paid by foreign buyer.
Export Markets
    The Export Markets include all parts of the world except the United 
States (the fifty states of the United States, 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
    Subject to the requirements in Paragraph 14, as applicable,
    DMIA and/or one or more Members may:

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    1. Enter into joint discussions, negotiations, and bidding with 
foreign buyers regarding the purchase of Products.
    2. Act jointly to negotiate and establish export prices for 
Products to be marketed through DMIA's Export Trade Facilitation 
Services, in connection with actual or potential bona fide export 
opportunities, provided that each DMIA Member remains free to deviate 
from the joint export price in independently exporting its Products not 
dedicated to DMIA.
    3. Act jointly to establish sales strategies for Products in the 
Export Markets.
    4. Process export orders for Products on behalf of DMIA Members.
    5. Exchange information regarding export transactions of Products, 
including:

    a. information that is already available to the dairy industry 
or to the general public;
    b. information on costs specific 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);
    c. information about U.S. and foreign legislation and 
regulations affecting sales of Products to Export Markets;
    d. information about the price, quantity, and delivery dates of 
Products supplied by DMIA Members for export through DMIA's Export 
Trade Facilitation Services;
    e. information about terms and conditions of contracts for sales 
of Products in the Export Markets to be considered by DMIA Members, 
including specifications from particular customers as well as 
customary terms and conditions;
    f. information about DMIA's international marketing efforts and 
promotional activities regarding Products undertaken by DMIA on 
behalf of its Members;
    g. information about orders for Products received by DMIA; and
    h. information about the independent export operations of DMIA 
Members regarding Products, including but not limited to, sales and 
distribution networks established by DMIA Members, and prior export 
sales (including foreign customer and export price information).

    6. Jointly sponsor promotional, sales and marketing efforts aimed 
at developing existing or new Export Markets for Products.
    7. Provide through DMIA Export Trade Facilitation Services to 
assist the export of Members' Products.
    8. Share among the Members, on the basis of each Member's 
proportionate supply of Product for a particular export transaction, 
the net revenue resulting from such export sale of Products through 
DMIA, and the cost of associated Export Trade Facilitation Services.
    9. Select a Member to negotiate and arrange for transportation of 
Products.
    10. Reimburse through DMIA the transport costs expended by the 
Member responsible for transporting the Products for a particular 
export sale transacted through DMIA's clearing services, where such 
transport costs are shared by the Members proportionate to the quantity 
of the Product that each Member supplies for that particular export 
transaction.
    11. Meet to engage in the activities described in paragraphs one 
through ten above.
    12. Utilize staff of the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives or, 
as needed the staff of a Member cooperative to implement the activities 
described in paragraphs one through eleven above.
    13. Refuse to provide export clearing services for Products and 
participation in the other activities described in paragraphs one 
through twelve above to non-members.
    14. DMIA may conduct the above mentioned Export Trade Activities 
provided, however, that:
    a. each DMIA Member shall independently determine: (1) whether 
to participate in any particular export sale, and (2) the quantity 
of a Product that Member will make available for sale in the Export 
Markets; and
    b. in the event of an overcommitment of the Products from the 
Members, DMIA may have subsequent communications with Members who 
have made commitments to reduce the quantities committed to meet the 
amount of the Products needed.
Terms and Conditions of Certificate
    (a) Except as provided in paragraph 5(b) of Export Trade Activities 
and Methods of Operation, neither DMIA nor any member shall 
intentionally disclose, to any other Member any information about its 
costs, output, capacity, inventories, domestic prices, domestic sales, 
domestic orders, terms of domestic marketing or sale, or U.S. business 
plans, strategies or methods that is not already generally available to 
the trade or public.
    (b) Participation by a Member in any Export Trade Activity or 
Method of Operation under this Certificate shall be entirely voluntary 
as to that Member, subject to the honoring of contractual commitments. 
A member may withdraw from coverage under this Certificate at any time 
by giving written notice to DMIA, a copy of which DMIA shall promptly 
transmit to the Departments of Commerce and Justice.
    (c) DMIA 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(1) of the Regulations)
    Land O'Lakes, Inc., Minneapolis, MN; Foremost Farms USA, Baraboo, 
WI; Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO; Ellsworth Cooperative 
Creamery Association, Ellsworth, WI; Darigold Farms, Seattle, WA; 
Associated Milk Producers, Inc. (AMPI), Arlington, TX; Alto Dairy 
Cooperative, Waupun, WI; Swiss Valley Farms, Co., Davenport, IA; First 
District Association, Litchfield, MN; and Dairymen's Cooperative 
Creamery Association, Tulare, CA.
Protection Provided by Certificate
    This Certificate protects DMIA, its Members, and their directors, 
officers, employees and agents acting on their behalf, from private 
treble damage actions and governmental 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 DMIA or its Members from 
engaging in conduct not specified in this Certificate, but such conduct 
is subject to the normal application of the antitrust laws. 
Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, nothing in this Certificate 
shall reduce, diminish or otherwise affect DMIA's or its members rights 
and protections under existing law, including the Cooperative Marketing 
Act of 1926, 7 U.S.C. Section 455 and the Capper-Volstead Act, 7 U.S.C. 
Section 291.
Disclaimer
    The issuance of this Certificate of Review to DMIA by the Secretary 
of Commerce with the concurrence of the Attorney General under the 
provisions of the Act does not constitute, explicitly

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or implicitly, an endorsement or opinion by the United States 
Government concerning either (a) The viability or quality of the 
business plans of DMIA or its Members or (b) the legality of such 
business plans of DMIA 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 in 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 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 Export Trade Certificate of Review is hereby granted 
to DMIA.
    A copy of this 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, NW., Washington, DC 20230.

    Dated: April 25, 1997.
W. Dawn Busby,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-11288 Filed 4-30-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P