[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 23, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71092-71094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-33989]


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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. 98-00001.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an Export Trade 
Certificate of Review to Fresh Fruit Exporters Association. This notice 
summarizes the conduct for which certification has been granted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Morton Schnabel, 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. 400l-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 (1998).
    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

    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.

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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 related to 
participation in 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, 
Services and/or Technology Rights into the Export Markets, FFEA and/or 
one or more of its Members may:
    1. Design and execute foreign marketing strategies for its Export 
Markets;
    2. Prepare joint bids, establish export prices for Members' 
Products and Services, and establish terms of sale in Export Markets in 
connection with potential or actual bona fide opportunities;
    3. Design, develop and market generic corporate labels for use in 
Export Markets;
    4. Engage in joint promotional activities directly targeted at 
developing Export Markets, such as: arranging trade shows and marketing 
trips; providing advertising services; providing brochures and industry 
newsletters; providing product, service, and industry information; 
conducting international market and product research; and procuring 
international marketing, advertising, and promotional services;
    5. Share the cost of joint promotional activities among the 
Members;
    6. Conduct product and packaging research and development 
exclusively for export in order to meet foreign regulatory 
requirements, foreign buyer specifications, and foreign consumer 
preferences;
    7. Negotiate and enter into agreements with governments and other 
foreign persons regarding non-tariff trade barriers in Export Markets;
    8. Establish and operate fumigation facilities and provide 
specialized packing operations and other quality control procedures to 
be followed by Members in the export of Products into Export Markets;
    9. Assist each other in maintaining the quality standards necessary 
to be successful in Export Markets;
    10. 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 Export Markets;
    11. Negotiate and enter into purchase agreements with buyers in 
Export Markets regarding export prices, quantities, type and quality of 
Products, time periods, and the terms and conditions of sale;
    12. Broker or take title to Products intended for Export Markets;
    13. Purchase Products from non-Member producers to fulfill specific 
sales obligations, provided that FFEA and/or Members shall make such 
purchases only on a transaction-by-transaction basis and when the 
Members are unable to supply, in a timely manner, the requisite 
Products at a price competitive under the circumstances;
    14. Solicit non-Member producers to become Members;
    15. Procure, negotiate, contract, and administer transportation 
services for Products in the course of export, including overseas 
freight transportation, inland freight transportation from the packing 
house to the U.S. port of embarkment, leasing of transportation 
equipment and facilities, storing and warehousing, stevedoring, 
wharfage and handling, insurance, and freight forwarder services;
    16. Arrange for trade documentation and services, customs 
clearance, financial instruments, and foreign exchange;
    17. Arrange financing through private financial entities;
    18. Bill and collect monies from foreign buyers, and arrange for or 
provide accounting, tax, legal and consulting services in relation to 
Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation;
    19. Enter into exclusive agreements with non-Members to provide 
Export Trade Facilitation Services;
    20. Apply for and utilize applicable export assistance and 
incentive programs available within governmental sectors;
    21. Negotiate and enter into agreements with governments and 
foreign persons to develop countertrade arrangements, provided that 
this Certificate does not protect any conduct related to the sale of 
goods in the United States that are imported as part of any 
countertrade transactions;
    22. Refuse to deal with or provide quotations to other Export 
Intermediaries for sales of Members' Products into Export Markets;
    23. Require common marking and identification of Members' Products 
sold in Export Markets;
    24. Exchange information as necessary to carry out Export Trade 
Activities and Methods of Operation, including:
    (a) Information about sales, marketing efforts, and sales 
strategies in Export Markets, including pricing; projected demand in 
Export Markets for Products; customary terms of sale; and foreign buyer 
and consumer product specifications;
    (b) Information about the price, quality, quantity, source and 
delivery dates of Products available from the Members for export;
    (c) Information about terms and conditions of contracts for sales 
in Export Markets to be considered and/or bid on by FFEA and/or 
Members;
    (d) Information about expenses specific to exporting to and within 
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 
Export Markets;
    (f) Information about FFEA's or Members' export operations, 
including sales and distribution networks established by FFEA or 
Members in Export Markets, and prior export sales by Members, including 
export price information; and
    (g) Information about claims or bad debts by FFEA's or Members' 
customers in Export Markets.

Definitions

    1. Export Intermediary means a person who acts as distributor, 
sales representative, sales or marketing agent,

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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 FFEA and who has 
been certified as a ``Member'' within the meaning of Section 325.2(1) 
of the Regulations, set out in Attachment A and incorporated by 
reference.

Terms and Conditions of Certificate

    1. Except as provided in paragraphs 24(b) and 24(d) of the Export 
Trade Activities and Methods of Operation, neither FFEA nor any Member 
shall intentionally disclose, directly or indirectly, to any other 
Member any information about its or any other Member's costs, 
production, capacity, 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 purchasing Member.
    2. Each Member shall determine independently of other Members the 
quantity of Products the Member will make available for export or sell 
through FFEA. FFEA may not solicit from any Member specific quantities 
for export or require any Member to export any minimum quantity of 
products.
    3. Any agreements, discussions, or exchanges of information under 
this Certificate relating to quantities of Products available for 
Export Markets, product specifications or standards, export prices, 
product quality or other terms and conditions of export sales (other 
than export financing) shall be in connection only with actual or 
potential bona fide export transactions or opportunities and shall 
include only those Members participating or having a genuine interest 
in participating in such transactions or opportunities; provided that 
FFEA and/or the Members may discuss standardization of Products and 
Services for purposes of making bona fide recommendations to foreign 
governmental or private standard-setting organizations.
    4. Meetings at which FFEA allocates export sales among Members and 
establishes export prices shall not be open to the public.
    5. 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 for 
sales of Products, Services or Technology Rights in specific export 
transactions. A Member may withdraw from coverage under this 
Certificate at any time by giving written notice to FFEA, a copy of 
which FFEA shall promptly transmit to the Secretary of Commerce and the 
Attorney General.
    6. 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.
    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, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230.

    Dated: December 17, 1998.
Morton Schnabel,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.

Attachment A

    Members (within the meaning of Section 325.2(1) of the 
Regulations):
    Autenrieth & Gray, Agoura Hills, CA
    Fresh Western International, Inc., Salinas, CA
    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
    Westlake-Miller, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
[FR Doc. 98-33989 Filed 12-22-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P