[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 82 (Friday, April 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21119-21121]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-10457]


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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. 01-00001.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an Export Trade 
Certificate of Review to Ginseng Board of Wisconsin (``GBW''), Wausau, 
Wisconsin, effective April 13, 2001. This notice summarizes the conduct 
for which certification has been granted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vanessa M. Bachman, Acting Director, 
Office of Export Trading Company Affairs, International Trade 
Administration, 202-482-5131 (this is not a toll-free number) or by E-
mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title III of the Export Trading Company Act 
of 1982 (15 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) authorizes the Secretary of Commerce 
to issue Export Trade Certificates of Review. The regulations 
implementing Title III are found at 15 CFR part 325 (2000). 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

I. Export Trade

1. Products

    Cultivated ginseng and cultivated ginseng products; cultivated 
golden seal and cultivated golden seal products; cultivated echinacea 
and cultivated echinacea products.

2. Services

    All services related to the export of Products.

3. Technology Rights

    All intellectual property rights associated with Products or 
Services, including, but not limited to, patents, trademarks, service 
marks, trade names, copyrights, neighboring (related) rights, trade 
secrets, know-how, and sui generis forms of protection for databases 
and computer programs.

4. Export Trade Facilitation Services (as they Relate to the Export of 
Products, Services and Technology Rights)

    Export Trade Facilitation Services, including, but not limited to: 
foreign market development, consulting, international market research, 
foreign market product research and design, development of trade 
strategy, legal assistance, marketing, promotion, sales, distribution, 
trade documentation, trade shows, freight forwarding, consolidation of 
export shipments, transportation, communication and processing of 
export orders, warehousing, foreign exchange, financing, taking title 
to goods, customs, duties, taxes, insurance, billing collection, 
inspection and quality control.

II. 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).

III. Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation

    In connection with the promotion and sale of Products, Services, 
and/or Technology Rights into the Export Markets, GBW and/or the 
Members may:
    1. Design and execute foreign marketing strategies for Export 
Markets;
    2. Establish base prices at which the Products will be sold for 
export, and set all or other terms of export sales;

[[Page 21120]]

    3. Agree on quantities of Products to be sold. GHC and GBW shall 
not require any Product Supplier to export a minimum quantity. Supplier 
names will be in a lottery draw and the order in which names are drawn 
will be the order in which Suppliers will be contacted to see if they 
want to sell. If a Supplier decides not to sell, his name is put at the 
end of the list of Suppliers;
    4. GBW and/or Mechthild Handke and GHC may refuse to quote prices 
for Products, or to market or sell Products to/or for any customers in 
the Export Markets, or any countries or geographical areas in the 
Export Markets;
    5. GBW and GHC may conduct promotional activities such as: design, 
develop and use promotional material using trademarked seals and/or 
other material. GBW and GHC may design, develop and market generic or 
other corporate labels for use in Export Markets. GBW and GHC may 
arrange trade shows, marketing trips, advertising services, and may 
conduct international market and Product research;
    6. GBW and GHC may conduct marketing and distribution of the 
Products in the Export Markets;
    7. GBW and GHC may enter into exclusive agreements appointing one 
or more export trade intermediaries for the sale of products with 
price, quantity, territory, country and/or customer restrictions. 
(``Exclusive'' means that GBW and GHC may agree not to sell Products 
into designated Export Markets through any other foreign distributor 
and that the foreign distributor may agree to represent only GBW and 
GHC in the Export Markets and none of GBW's and GHC's competitors.);
    8. Conduct product and packaging research and development 
exclusively for export in order to meet foreign regulatory 
requirements, foreign buyer specifications, and foreign consumer 
preferences;
    9. Negotiate and enter into agreements with foreign governments and 
other foreign persons regarding non-tariff barriers in Export Markets;
    10. Advise and cooperate with the United States Government in 
establishing procedures regulating the export of the Products;
    11. Participate in negotiations and enter into agreements with 
foreign buyers (including governments and private persons) regarding 
fumigating, packing and other quality control and/or phytosanitary 
procedures, and/or funding requirements to be followed in the export of 
the Products. Such procedures may include activities related to insect 
and disease detection, certification, inspection, storage and treatment 
protocols required to qualify Products for export and to meet the 
import requirements of the foreign government. GBW and/or the Members 
may establish and operate fumigation facilities for use in the export 
of the Products;
    12. Negotiate or enter into purchase agreements with buyers in 
Export Markets regarding terms and conditions of sales;
    13. Broker or take title to Products and research data intended for 
Export Markets;
    14. Jointly undertake the administrative tasks of processing export 
orders;
    15. Engage in joint promotional activities (such as advertising or 
trade shows) for developing existing or new markets;
    16. Procure, negotiate, contract, and administer transportation 
services for Products in the course of export, including overseas 
freight transportation, inland freight transportation from portal to 
embarkment, leasing of transportation equipment and facilities, 
storing/warehousing, stevedoring, wharfage, handling, insurance, and 
freight forwarder services;
    17. Arrange for trade documentation, services, customs clearance, 
financial instruments, and foreign exchange;
    18. Compile and discuss information regarding expenses specific to 
exporting the Products to and within the Export Markets, including 
without limitation, all modes of transportation, port storage, export 
sales, commissions, documentation, duties and taxes;
    19. Operate and establish jointly owned subsidiaries or other joint 
venture entities, owned exclusively by GBW and/or the Members, to 
export Products to Export Markets; operate warranty, service, and 
training centers in Export Markets; and to provide Export Trade 
Facilitation Services to Members and nonmember Suppliers of Products. 
Member and nonmember Wisconsin Suppliers may ship Products through GHC;
    20. Require the licensing of and license in the Export Markets any 
intellectual property rights resulting from the research conducted by 
the GRIA. The use of this intellectual property in conjunction with the 
sale of Products shall be determined by negotiations between the export 
customer, GBW and GRIA;
    21. Arrange financing through private and public financial 
entities;
    22. Bill and collect monies from foreign buyers; perform or arrange 
for all legal and financial services in relation to Export Trade 
Activities and Methods of Operation;
    23. Require the use of the Wisconsin Ginseng Seal for Products 
(only ginseng and ginseng products) sold in the Export Markets;
    24. Provide marketing and/or health benefit research data to 
customers, distributors and other export trade intermediaries in the 
Export Markets for use in promotion of Products, and enter into 
licensing arrangements of such data with export trade intermediaries 
and buyers in the Export Markets;
    25. GBW and/or the Members can require that the Wisconsin Ginseng 
Seal emblem only be used to identify and signify Product (only ginseng 
and ginseng products) grown in Wisconsin, USA and containing 100% pure 
Wisconsin Ginseng;
    26. Negotiate and enter into agreements with foreign governments 
and foreign persons to develop counter-trade arrangements, provided 
that this Certificate does not protect any conduct related to the sale 
of goods in the U.S. that are imported as part of any counter-trade 
transactions;
    27. Apply for and utilize applicable export assistance and 
incentive programs available within governmental sectors;
    28. Open, operate and staff overseas sales and distribution offices 
to facilitate the sales and distribution of Products to and within 
Export Markets; and
    29. Exchange information as necessary to carry out Export Trade 
Activities and Methods of Operation between GBW, GRIA, GHC and other 
entities. Bring together from time to time GBW, the Members, and export 
trade intermediaries in the Export Markets to discuss and plan how to 
fulfill the Product, Service, and/or Technology Rights requirements of 
specific export customers or Export Markets.

IV. Definitions

    ``Members'' (within the meaning of Section 325.2(l) of the 
Regulations) are: the Ginseng Research Institute of America, Inc. 
(``GRIA''), Wausau, WI; Ginseng & Herb Co-op (``GHC''), Wausau, WI; and 
Ms. Mechthild Handke, Dusseldorf, Germany (representative for GBW and 
GHC).
    ``Supplier'' means a person who produces, provides, or sells any 
Product and/or Service.

V. Terms and Conditions of Certificate

    1. Neither GBW, nor any of the Members, shall intentionally 
disclose, directly or indirectly, to any other Member or Supplier, any 
information about GBW's, any other Member's, or

[[Page 21121]]

any Supplier's costs, production, capacity, inventories, domestic 
prices, domestic sales, terms of domestic marketing or sale, or U.S. 
business plans, strategies, or methods, unless such information is 
already generally available to the trade or public.
    2. Meetings at which GBW and the Members establish export prices 
shall not be open to the public.
    3. GBW 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.

VI. Protection Provided by Certificate

    This Certificate protects GBW and the Members, and their directors, 
officers, and employees 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.
    A copy of the 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 20, 2001.
Vanessa Bachman,
Acting Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 01-10457 Filed 4-26-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-U