[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 200 (Monday, October 18, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56189-56191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-27092]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Export Trade Certificate of Review

ACTION: Notice of Application.

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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, 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. Sections 4001-21) (``the Act'') authorizes the 
Secretary of Commerce, with the concurrence of the Attorney General, 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 Section 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 Trading Company 
Affairs, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, 
Room 1104H, Washington, D.C. 20230. Information submitted by any person 
is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (5 
U.S.C. Section 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 
99-00005.'' A summary of the application follows.

Summary of the Application

    Applicant: California Almond Export Association, LLC (``CAEA''), 
4800 Sisk Road, Modesto, CA 95356.
    Contact: Ronald C. Peterson, Attorney.
    Telephone: (415) 995-5005.
    Application No.: 99-00005.
    Date Deemed Submitted: October 4, 1999.
    Members (in addition to applicant): A & P Growers Cooperative, 
Inc., Tulare, CA; Almonds California Pride, Inc., Caruthers, CA; 
Baldwin-Minkler Farms, Orland, CA; Blue Diamond Growers, Sacramento, 
CA; Calcot, Ltd., Bakersfield, CA; California Independent Almond 
Growers, Ballico, CA; Campos Brothers, Caruthers, CA; Chico Nut 
Company, Chico, CA; Del Rio Nut Company, Livingston, CA; Dole Nut 
Company, Bakersfield, CA (Controlling Entity: Dole Food Company, Inc., 
West Lake Village, CA); Fair Trade Corner, Inc., Chico, CA; Gold Hills 
Nut Co., Inc., Ballico, CA; Golden West Nuts, Inc.,

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Ripon, CA; Harris Woolf California Almonds, Huron, CA; Hilltop Ranch, 
Ballico, CA; Hughson Nut Company, Hughson, CA; Kindle Nut Company, 
Denair, CA; Paramount Farms, Inc., Los Angeles, CA (Controlling Entity: 
Roll International Corporation, Los Angeles, CA); P-R Farms, Inc., 
Clovis, CA; Santa Fe Nut Company, Ballico, CA; South Valley Farms, 
Wasco, CA; and Western Nut Company, Chico, CA.
    CAEA seeks a Certificate to cover the following specific Export 
Trade, Export Markets, and Export Trade Activities and Methods of 
Operation.

Export Trade

1. Products California almonds in processed and unprocessed form 
(``almonds'').
2. Services Marketing, distribution and promotional services.
3. Export Trade Facilitation Services (as they Relate to the Export of 
Products and Services)

    All export trade-related facilitation services, including but not 
limited to: development of trade strategy; sales, marketing, and 
distribution; foreign market development; promotion; all aspects of 
foreign sales transactions, including export brokerage, freight 
forwarding, transportation, insurance, billing, collection, trade 
documentation, and foreign exchange; customs, duties and taxes; and 
inspection and quality control.

Export Markets

    The Export Markets include all parts of the world except the United 
States (the fifty states of the United States of America, 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 Territories of the Pacific Islands).

Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation

    CAEA and its Members seek to have the following conduct certified:
    1. To undertake on its own behalf or on behalf of all or less than 
all of its Members, with respect to the trade in almonds handled by the 
Members with any or all customers in the Export Markets, or any country 
or geographical area within the Export Markets, all activities 
conducted through CAEA or through Export Intermediaries (to the extent 
provided in section 1.g below) as follows:
    a. Sales Prices. Establish sale prices, minimum sale prices, target 
sale prices and/or minimum target sale prices and other terms of sale.
    b. Marketing and Distribution. Marketing and distribution.
    c. Promotion. Promotion.
    d. Quantities. Agree on quantities of almonds to be sold, provided 
each Member shall be required to dedicate only such quantity or 
quantities, as each such Member shall independently determine. CAEA 
shall not require any Member to export a minimum quantity.
    e. Market and Customer Allocation. Allocate geographic areas or 
countries in the Export Markets and/or customers in the Export Markets 
among Members.
    f. Refusals to deal. Refuse to quote prices for almonds, or to 
market or sell almonds, to or for any customers in the Export Markets, 
or any countries or geographical areas in the Export Markets.
    g. Exclusive and Non-exclusive Export Intermediaries. Enter into 
exclusive and non-exclusive agreements appointing one or more Export 
Intermediaries for the sale of almonds with price, quantity, 
territorial and/or customer restrictions as otherwise provided in 
sections 1.a. through 1.f., inclusive, above.
    h. Non-Member Activities. Solicit individual non-Members either to 
sell almonds to CAEA for sale in the Export Markets or otherwise to 
combine those non-Member almonds with those of some or all of the 
Members for sale in the Export Markets. In no event shall a non-Member 
be included in any deliberations concerning any export trade 
activities.
    2. Exchange of Information. To exchange and discuss the following 
information:
    a. Information about sale and marketing efforts for the Export 
Markets, activities and opportunities for sales of almonds in the 
Export Markets, selling strategies for the Export Markets, sales for 
the Export Markets, contract and spot pricing in the Export Markets, 
projected demands in the Export Markets for almonds, customary terms of 
sale in the Export Markets, prices and availability of almonds from 
competitors for sale in the Export Markets, and specifications for 
almonds by customers in the Export Markets;
    b. Information about the price, quality, quantity, source, and 
delivery dates of almonds available from the Members to export;
    c. Information about terms and conditions of contracts for sale in 
the Export Markets to be considered and/or bid on by CAEA and its 
Members;
    d. Information about joint bidding or selling arrangements for the 
Export Markets and allocations of sales resulting from such 
arrangements among the Members;
    e. Information about expenses specific to exporting to and within 
the Export Markets, including without limitation, transportation, 
trans- or intermodal shipments, insurance, inland freights to port, 
port storage, commissions, export sales, documentation, financing, 
customs, duties and taxes;
    f. Information about U.S. and foreign legislation and regulations, 
including federal marketing order programs, affecting sales for the 
Export Markets;
    g. Information about CAEA's or its Members' export operations, 
including without limitation, sales and distribution networks 
established by CAEA or its Members in the Export Markets, and prior 
export sales by Members (including export price information); and
    h. Information about customer credit terms and credit history.
    3. To prescribe the following conditions for admission of Members 
to CAEA and termination of membership in CAEA:
    a. Membership shall be limited to persons, firms or organizations 
who meet the definition of ``handler'' as defined in 7 CFR Section 
981.13.
    b. Membership shall terminate on the occurrence of the following 
events:
    i. Withdrawal or resignation of a Member;
    ii. Expulsion approved by a majority of all Members for a material 
violation of the CAEA's Operating Agreement, after prior written notice 
to the Member proposed to be expelled and an opportunity of such Member 
to appeal and be heard before a meeting of the Members;
    iii. Death or permanent disability of a Member who is an individual 
or the dissolution of a Member other than an individual; and
    iv. The bankruptcy of a Member as provided in the CAEA's Operating 
Agreement.
    4. To meet to engage in the activities described in paragraphs 1 
through 3 above.

Definitions

    1. Export Intermediary means a person, including a Member, who acts 
as a distributor, sales representative, sales or marketing agent, or 
broker, or who performs similar functions, engaged to conduct export 
trade activities on behalf of CAEA or any or all of its Members as 
provided in section 1.g. above, and for the providing of or arranging 
for the provision of Export Trade Facilitation Services.
    2. Handler means a person handling almonds grown in California as 
defined in 7 CFR Section 981.13 under Order

[[Page 56191]]

Regulating Handling of Almonds Grown in California.
    3. Member means a person who has membership in CAEA and who has 
been certified as a ``Member'' within the meaning of 15 CFR Section 
325.2(1) of the Regulations.

Terms and Conditions of Certificate

    1. Except as provided in Section 2 of the Export Trade Activities 
and Methods of Operation above, CAEA and its Members shall not 
intentionally disclose, directly or indirectly, to any handler (as 
defined in 7 CFR Section 981.13) of Products (including Members) any 
information about its or any other handler's costs, production 
capacity, inventories, domestic prices, domestic sales, 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; (2) such disclosure is a 
material part of the negotiations for an actual or potential bona fide 
sale or purchase of the Products and the disclosure is limited to that 
prospective purchaser or seller; or (3) such disclosure is made in 
connection with the administration of the United States Department of 
Agriculture marketing order for almonds grown in California.
    2. Each Member shall determine independently of other Members the 
quantity of Products the Member will make available for export or sell 
through CAEA. CAEA may not solicit from any Member specific quantities 
for export or require any Member to export any minimum quantity of 
almonds.
    3. Meetings at which CAEA allocates export sales among Members and 
establishes export prices shall not be open to the public.
    4. 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 in specific export transactions. A Member may 
withdraw from coverage under this Certificate at any time by giving a 
written notice to CAEA, a copy of which CAEA shall promptly transmit to 
the Secretary of Commerce and the Attorney General.
    5. CAEA 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 analysis 
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 or 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: October 12, 1999.
Morton Schnabel,
Director, Office of Export Trading, Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-27092 Filed 10-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P