[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 23 (Wednesday, February 4, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5780-5782]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-2647]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Export Trade Certificate of Review

ACTION: Notice of application.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Morton Schnabel, Acting 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. 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

[[Page 5781]]

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 98-00001.'' A summary of the application follows.

Summary of the Application

    Applicant: Fresh Fruit Exporters Association (``FFEA''), 30423 
Canwood Street, Suite 235, Agoura Hills, California 91301.
    Contact: Ronald A. Oleynik, Attorney.
    Telephone: (202) 457-7183.
    Application No.: 98-00001.
    Date Deemed Submitted: January 26, 1998.
    Members (in addition to applicant): Autenrieth & Gray, Agoura 
Hills, CA; Fresh Western International, Inc., Salinas, CA (a wholly 
owned subsidiary of The Albert Fisher Group, Inc., Dallas, TX); Fruit 
Unlimited Inc., Visalia, CA; Giscal Limited, U.S.A., Los Angeles, CA; 
Great Oriental Corporation, Anaheim, CA; Pandol Bros., Inc., Delano, 
CA; Paramount Export Company, Oakland, CA; Primary Export 
International, Inc., South San Francisco, CA; Renown LLC, Redlands, CA; 
United Fruits (Calif.) Corp. and United Overseas Trading Corp., Santa 
Monica, CA; Vanguard Trading Services, Inc., Issaquah, WA; and 
Westlake-Miller, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
    FFEA seeks a Certificate to cover the following specific Export 
Trade, Export Markets, and Export Trade Activities and Methods of 
Operations.

Export Trade

    1. Products: Fresh fruit.
    2. Services: Inspection, quality control, marketing and promotional 
services.
    3. Technology Rights: Proprietary rights to all technology 
associated with Products or Services, including, but not limited to: 
patents, trademarks, service marks, trade names, copyrights, trade 
secrets, and know-how.
    4. Export Trade Facilitation Services (as they Relate to the Export 
of Products, Services and Technology Rights): All export trade-related 
facilitation services, including, but not limited to: consulting and 
trade strategy; sales and marketing; export brokerage; foreign 
marketing research; foreign market development; overseas advertising 
and promotion; product research and design based on foreign buyer and 
consumer preferences; inspection and quality control; transportation; 
insurance; billing of foreign buyers; collection (letters of credit and 
other financial instruments); provision of overseas sales and 
distribution facilities and overseas sales staff; legal, accounting and 
tax assistance; management information systems development and 
application; assistance and administration of government export 
assistance programs, such as the Export Enhancement and Market 
Promotion programs.

Export Markets

    The Export Markets include 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

    In connection with the promotion and sale of Members' Products and 
Services into the Export Markets, the FFEA and/or one or more of its 
Members seeks to:
    1. Design and execute foreign marketing strategies for its Export 
Markets;
    2. Prepare joint bids, establish export prices, and establish terms 
of sale in the Export Markets;
    3. Design, develop and market generic corporate labels;
    4. Engage in joint promotional activities directly targeted at 
developing the Export Markets, such as: arranging trade shows and 
marketing trips; providing advertising services; providing brochures, 
industry newsletters and other forms of product, service and industry 
information; conducting international market and product research; 
procuring international marketing, advertising and promotional 
services; and sharing the cost of these joint promotional activities 
among the Members;
    5. Conduct product and packaging research and development 
exclusively for the export of the Products, such as meeting foreign 
regulatory requirements and foreign buyer specifications and 
identifying and designing for foreign buyer and consumer preferences;
    6. Negotiate and enter into agreements with governments and other 
foreign persons regarding non-tariff trade barriers in the Export 
Markets, such as packaging requirements, establishing and operating 
fumigation facilities and providing specialized packing operations and 
other quality control procedures to be followed by its Members in the 
export of Products into the Export Markets;
    7. Advise and cooperate with agencies of the U.S. Government in 
establishing procedures regulating the export of Members' Products, 
Services and/or Technology Rights into the Export Markets;
    8. Negotiate and enter into purchase agreements with buyers in the 
Export Markets regarding the export prices, quantities, type and 
quality of Products, time periods, and the terms and conditions of 
sale;
    9. Broker or take title to the Products;
    10. Purchase Products from non-Members whenever necessary to 
fulfill specific sales obligations;
    11. Solicit non-Members to become Members;
    12. Communicate and process export orders;
    13. Assist each Member in maintaining the quality standards 
necessary to be successful in the Export Markets;
    14. Provide Export Trade Facilitation Services with respect to 
Products, Services and Technology Rights;
    15. Negotiate freight rate contracts with individual carriers and 
carrier conferences either directly or indirectly through shippers 
associations and/or freight forwarders;
    16. Bill and collect from foreign buyers and provide accounting, 
tax, legal and consulting assistance and services;
    17. Enter into exclusive agreements to provide, produce, negotiate, 
contract, and administer Export Trade Services and Trade Facilitation 
Services;
    18. Apply for and utilize applicable export assistance and 
incentive programs which are available within the governmental and 
private sectors, such as the USDA Export Enhancement and Market 
Promotion programs;
    19. Refuse to deal with or provide quotations to non-Members for 
sales of the Members' Products into the Export Markets;
    20. Utilize common marking and identification of Product sold in 
the Export Markets; and
    21. Exchange information with and among the Members as necessary to 
carry out the Export Trade Facilitation Services and Export Trade 
Activities and Methods of Operation, including:
    a. Information about sales and marketing efforts and strategies in 
the Export Markets, including pricing; projected demand in the Export 
Markets for Products; customary terms of sale,

[[Page 5782]]

prices and availability of Products independently committed by Members 
for sales in the Export Markets; prices and sales of Products in the 
Export Markets; and specifications by buyers and consumers in the 
Export Markets;
    b. Information about the price, quality, quantity, source and 
delivery dates of Products for export;
    c. Information about terms and conditions of contracts for sales in 
the Export Markets;
    d. Information about expenses specific to exporting to and within 
the Export Markets, including transportation, transshipments, 
intermodal shipments, insurance, inland freight to port, port storage, 
commissions, export sales, documentation, financing and customs duties 
or taxes;
    e. Information about U.S. and foreign legislation and regulations, 
including Federal marketing order programs that may affect sales to the 
Export Markets;
    f. Information about the FFEA's or its Members' export operations, 
including sales and distribution networks established by the FFEA or 
its Members in the Export Markets, and prior export sales by Members, 
including export price information; and
    g. Information about the FFEA's or its Members' credit and 
collections practices and problems, claims and sales allowances.

Definitions

    1. Export Intermediary means a person who acts as distributor, 
sales representative, sales or marketing agent, or broker, or who 
performs similar functions, including providing, or arranging for the 
provision of, Export Trade Facilitation Services.
    2. Member means a person who has membership in the FFEA and who has 
been certified as a ``Member'' within the meaning of Section 325.2(1) 
of the Regulations.

Terms and Conditions of Certificate

    1. In engaging in Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation, 
neither FFEA nor any Member shall intentionally disclose, directly or 
indirectly, to any other Member any information regarding its or any 
other Member's domestic costs, production, capacity, or inventories; 
domestic prices; domestic sales; 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 sale and the disclosure is limited to the prospective 
purchaser.
    2. FFEA and 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 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.

    Dated: January 28, 1998.
Morton Schnabel,
Acting Director, Office of Export Trading, Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 98-2647 Filed 2-3-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F