[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 153 (Friday, August 8, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42763-42765]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-20929]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Export Trade Certificate of Review

ACTION: Notice of application to amend certificate.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Export Trading Company Affairs (``OETCA''), 
International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, has 
received an application to amend an Export Trade Certificate of Review. 
This notice summarizes the proposed amendment and requests comments 
relevant to whether the amended Certificate should be issued. Applicant 
has requested and been denied 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 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 an amended Certificate should be issued. If the 
comments include any privileged or confidential business information, 
it must be clearly marked and a nonconfidential version of the comments 
(identified as such) should be included. Any comments not marked 
privileged or confidential business information will be deemed to be 
nonconfidential. An original and five copies, plus two copies of the 
nonconfidential version, 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). However, nonconfidential versions of the comments will be 
made available to the applicant if necessary for determining whether or 
not to issue the Certificate. Comments should refer to this application 
as ``Export Trade Certificate of Review, application number 96-2A003.'' 
The Rice Millers' Association's (``RMA'') original Certificate was 
issued on August 16, 1996 (61 FR 43733, August 26, 1996). A summary of 
the application for an amendment is as follows.

Summary of the Application

    Applicant: Rice Millers' Association, 4301 North Fairfax Drive, 
Suite 305, Arlington, Virginia 22203-1616.
    Contact: Cynthia H. Tough, Vice President of International Affairs 
for the USA Rice Federation. Telephone: (703) 351-8161.
    Application No.: 96-2A003.
    Date Deemed Submitted: July 25, 1997.
    Proposed Amendment: RMA seeks to amend its Certificate by (1) 
modifying the Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation under 
which it proposes to allocate the U.S. portion of the E.U.'s tariff 
rate quotas (``TRQs'') for semi-milled and milled rice and brown rice 
and (2) expanding the eligibility for Membership in the RMA Certificate 
to include any persons, firms, or corporations of U.S. nationality that 
have been actively engaged in the exportation of rice from the United 
States in each of the past two calendar years. RMA's Certificate would 
be amended in relevant part as follows:

Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation

    RMA will administer a program 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 EU 
enlargement, to include Austria, Finland, and Sweden, as follows:

A. Administration of ETCR

    (a) The program will be administered by an Administrator, selected 
by the Membership, and not engaged in the production, milling, 
distribution, or sale of rice. The President of the USA Rice 
Federation, and such employees and contractors of the Federation as he 
or she may designate, will work closely with the Administrator as 
necessary for the smooth operating of the RMA/ETCR.
    (b) The Administrator may request of Members statistical 
information, to be provided on a confidential basis, concerning their 
participation in the RMA/ETCR, including the disposition of TRQ 
Certificates, and may prepare compilations of such data, in such form 
as not to disclose confidential information.

B. Acquisition and Transfer of TRQ Certificates

    (a) Certificates shall be offered to the Membership on open tender. 
The certificates issued by the RMA/ETCR will specify the quantity and 
type of rice (milled or brown) covered, and shall be valid for certain 
time periods or tranches. The quantity of rice covered by the total 
number of Certificates will reflect the total amount of U.S. rice to be 
imported into the EU under the TRQs.
    (b) Certificates shall be valid only for the tranche covered by the 
import license, and shall expire at the end of such tranche.

[[Page 42764]]

    (c) A minimum of thirty calendar days before the opening of each 
tranche of the TRQs, the Administrator shall notify each Member of the 
RMA/ETCR that it is entitled to bid for TRQ Certificates, and shall 
specify the quantity and type of rice (milled or brown) and the time 
period covered by the tranche.
    (d) Together with the first bid it submits for TRQ Certificates in 
a given year of operation of the RMA/ETCR, a Member shall lodge with 
the Administrator an irrevocable bond or equivalent surety instrument 
as provided in the Operating Agreement. The bond shall be forfeited to 
the RMA/ETCR in the event that, at any time during the year, the Member 
fails to pay for or fails to take delivery of Certificates awarded to 
it.
    (e) To be considered, a bid must: (i) Specify the type of rice 
(milled or brown); (ii) state the quantity, in metric tonnes, of rice 
for which the bidder proposes to purchase Certificates; (iii) indicate 
the price or prices for which the Member proposes to acquire 
Certificates; and (iv) be signed by a responsible official of a Member 
of the RMA/ETCR. A bid not satisfying these criteria, or a bid not 
submitted within the stipulated response period, shall be returned to 
the Member by the Administrator, and shall not be considered further.
    (f) The Administrator shall award Certificates for the available 
tonnage to the highest bidder(s) for each type of rice. In the event 
that identical bids are received, the Administrator shall award 
Certificates on a pro rata basis, in proportion to the quantities 
requested by the bidders.
    (g) The contents of the bids shall be treated by the Administrator 
as confidential, releasing to the public only the names of the 
successful bidder(s), quantity, type of rice and price of their bids.
    (h) Successful bidders shall be awarded Certificates evidencing 
their eligibility to export stated quantities of milled and brown rice 
into the customs territory of the EU under the TRQ during a specified 
shipment period. Payment for the Certificates, in accordance with the 
terms of the bid, must be made to the Administrator within the time 
period provided in the Operating Agreement. If a bidder fails to pay 
for Certificates awarded, all bids submitted by that bidder shall be 
deemed canceled, and the Administrator shall revoke the award and 
distribute the bidder's Certificates to the next highest bidder.
    (i) In the event that the total quantity of bids received is less 
than the size of the relevant TRQ tranche, the unused portion shall, to 
the extent consistent with EU law, be carried over to a succeeding 
tranche. In any tranche as to which EU law prohibits such carry-over, 
should the total quantity of bids received be less than the total 
quantity available in the tranche, the unused portion shall be offered 
to all of the successful bidders, in proportion to the size of their 
respective awards, at the lowest bid price.
    (j) Certificates, once issued and paid for, shall be freely 
transferable.

C. Disposition of Tender Proceeds

    (a) The Administrator shall aggregate the proceeds of all tenders 
for TRQ Certificates, and all interest accrued thereon, at the end of 
each year of operation of the program, and shall distribute them as 
follows:
    (b)(1) In the first year of operations, the Administrator shall 
remit to the RMA/ETCR 5% of the total proceeds of the tenders for that 
year to pay all administrative and legal expenses incurred by the RMA/
ETCR in calendar year 1996 and through conclusion of the first year of 
operations.
    (2) The remainder of the 5% portion of the proceeds shall be 
distributed as follows:
    (i) To each Member, any documented expenses that it incurred for 
third-party legal fees in calendar years 1996 and 1997 in connection 
with the establishment of an ETC for administration of the TRQs,
    (ii) To each Member that shipped a minimum of 500 metric tonnes of 
milled rice to the EU in calendar year 1996, and which has not already 
received a distribution pursuant to this subparagraph (2), and
    (iii) To each Member that shipped a minimum of 500 metric tonnes of 
brown rice to the EU in calendar year 1996, and which has not already 
received a distribution pursuant to this subparagraph (2).
    In no event, may the distribution to any Member under this 
subparagraph exceed $25,000.
    (3) If there are insufficient funds available to make payments 
provided for in subparagraph (2), the amount that each Member would 
otherwise be entitled to receive will be reduced by a pro-rata amount 
so that the total distributions will be equal to the amount available 
for this purpose. If the distributions under subparagraph (2) should 
not result in the complete distribution of the funds available for this 
purpose, any amount left over shall be distributed according to the 
formula and sequence set out in paragraph (e).
    (c) In the years after the first year, the Administrator shall 
remit to the RMA/ETCR 2% of the total proceeds of the tenders for the 
year, to pay administrative and legal expenses related to the RMA/ETCR. 
If the actual administrative expenses differ from the stated amount by 
more than 1% of the total proceeds, then the percentage to which the 
RMA/ETCR shall be entitled in the following year shall be adjusted up 
or down accordingly.
    (d) If requested by the RMA/ETCR, the Administrator shall be 
permitted to make advances against administrative cost requirements 
during the course of the year.
    (e) For the first two years of operation, the Administrator shall 
pay to those Members qualifying as ``Historical Shippers'' the amount 
of $75 for each tonne of their average annual shipments of brown and 
milled rice to Austria, Sweden, and Finland during the period 1990-1994 
(``the Historical Shippers Portion''). Of the proceeds remaining after 
distribution of the amounts provided for in paragraphs (b) and (c) and 
distribution of the Historical Shippers Portion, the Administrator 
shall distribute:
    (i) 45% divided one-third to the Rice Foundation for rice-related 
research projects; and two-thirds for international development 
activities to be managed by the USA Rice Federation (``Industry 
Promotion Portion'').
    (ii) 10% to the All Exporters Fund to be paid out to Members in 
proportion to their relative shares of the export trade of all rice 
from the United States to all destinations in the world except the 
European Union, on a milled-equivalent basis, during the preceding 
year.
    (iii) the remainder to Members of the RMA/ETCR, in proportion to 
their relative shares of the export trade of all milled and brown rice 
to the EU, on a milled-equivalent basis, during the preceding year 
(``the EU Exporters Pool'').
    (f) After the second year of operation of this Agreement, the 
Administrator shall distribute the proceeds remaining after the 
distribution provided in paragraph (c), by deducting and setting aside 
the Historical Shippers Portion, and by distributing the remainder as 
follows:
    (i) 45% to the Industry Promotion Portion, to be distributed in 
accordance with paragraph (e)(i);
    (ii) 10% to the All Exporters Fund, to be distributed in accordance 
with paragraph (e)(ii); and
    (iii) The remainder of the proceeds, together with the Historical 
Shippers Portion, to the EU Exporters Pool, to be distributed in 
accordance with paragraph (e)(iii).

[[Page 42765]]

    (g) For the purposes of the above Export Trade Activities and 
Methods of Operation, all references to ``years of operation'' shall 
mean years beginning on the date the first tranche opens, and ending on 
the day before the anniversary of that date.

Definitions

    ``Member'' means a member of RMA who has been certified as a 
``Member'' within the meaning of Section 325.1(l) of the Regulations 
and as listed in Attachment I. Members must sign the Operating 
Agreement of the RMA/ETCR in order to participate in the certified 
activities. Any U.S. company that has been actively engaged in the 
exportation of rice from the United States in each of the past two 
calendar years, and that wishes to participate in the activities 
covered by this certificate, may join RMA's membership by executing the 
Operating Agreement, paying a non-refundable membership fee of $3,000 
per calendar year, and requesting that RMA file for an amending 
certificate. Membership will remain open until December 31, 1997, and 
thereafter, shall be open to qualified companies during specified 
months in the year. Any RMA member that is not a listed Member may join 
RMA's export trade certificate of review by requesting that RMA file 
for an amended certificate. All of the rights of Members would become 
effective as of the date of approval of their Membership by the 
Department of Commerce. A Member may withdraw from coverage under this 
certificate at any time by giving written notice to RMA, a copy of 
which RMA will promptly transmit to the Secretary of Commerce and the 
Attorney General.

    Dated: August 4, 1997.
W. Dawn Busby,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-20929 Filed 8-7-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F