[Federal Register: November 21, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 225)]
[Notices]
[Page 70211-70212]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21no02-51]
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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, U.S. 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: Jeffrey C. Anspacher, Director, Office
of Export Trading Company Affairs, International Trade Administration,
(202) 482-5131 (this is not a toll-free number) or E-mail at
oetca@ita.doc.gov.
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. An Export Trade 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 Export Trading Company
Act of 1982 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 (5) copies, plus two (2) 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, U.S. Department of
Commerce, Room 1104H, Washington, DC 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
02-00004.'' A summary of the application follows.
Summary of the Application
Applicant: California Pistachio Export Association (``CPEA''), 5497
E. Olive Avenue, Fresno, California 93727.
Contact: Carter Brown, Esquire.
Telephone: (202) 543-4455.
Application No.: 02-00004.
Date Deemed Submitted: November 7, 2002.
Members (in addition to applicant): A&P Growers Cooperative, Inc.,
Tulare, CA; CalPure Pistachios, Inc., Lost Hills, CA; Gold Coast
Pistachios, Inc., Fresno, CA; Keenan Farms, Inc., Avenal, CA; Monarch
Nut Company, Delano, CA; Nichols Pistachio, Hanford, CA; Primex Farms,
LLC, Wasco, CA; Santa Barbara Pistachio Company, Inc., Santa Barbara,
CA; Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc., Terra Bella, CA; and South
Valley Farms, LLC, Wasco, CA.
CPEA seeks a Certificate to cover the following specific Export
Trade, Export Markets, and Export Trade Activities and Methods of
Operations.
Export Trade
1. Products
California in-shell and shelled pistachios, raw and roasted.
Including all forms.
2. Export Trade Facilitation Services (as they Relate to the Export of
Products)
All export trade-related facilitation services, including but not
limited to: Development of trade strategy; sales, marketing, and
distribution; foreign market development; promotion; and 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
[[Page 70212]]
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 Territory of the Pacific Islands).
Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation
CPEA and its Members seek to have the following conduct certified:
1. CPEA, on its own behalf or on behalf of all or less than all of
its Members, through CPEA or through Export Intermediaries (to the
extent provided in section 1.g) may:
a. Export Sales Prices. Establish sales price, minimum sales price,
target sales price and/or minimum target sales price, and other terms
of sale;
b. Marketing and Distribution. Conduct marketing and distribution
of Products;
c. Promotion. Conduct joint promotion of Products;
d. Quantities. Agree on quantities of Products to be sold, provided
each Member shall be required to dedicate only such quantity or
quantities as each such Member shall independently determine;
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 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;
g. Exclusive and Non-exclusive Export Intermediaries. Enter into
exclusive and non-exclusive agreements appointing one or more Export
Intermediaries (as defined under ``Definitions'' paragraph 1) for the
sale of Products with price, quantity, territorial and/or customer
restrictions as provided in sections 1.a. through 1.f., inclusive,
above;
h. Non-Member Activities. Purchase Products from non-Members to
fulfill specific sales obligations, provided that CPEA and/or its
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.
In no event shall a non-Member be included in any deliberations
concerning any Export Trade Activities; and
i. Transportation Activities. Negotiate favorable transportation
rates (volume discounts) and consolidate shipments.
2. CPEA and its Members may exchange and discuss the following
information:
a. Information about sales and marketing efforts for the Export
Markets, activities and opportunities for sales of Products 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 Products, customary terms
of sale in the Export Markets, prices and availability of Products from
competitors for sale in the Export Markets, and specifications for
Products by customers in the Export Markets;
b. Information about the price, quality, quantity, source, and
delivery dates of Products 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 CPEA 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 freight 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 CPEA's or its Members' export operations,
including without limitation, sales and distribution networks
established by CPEA or its Members in the Export Markets, and prior
export sales by Members (including export price information); and
h. Information about export customer credit terms and credit
history.
3. CPEA and its Members may meet to engage in the activities
described in paragraphs 1 and 2 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, including providing, or
arranging for the provision of, Export Trade Facilitation Services.
2. ``Member'' means a person who has membership in the CPEA Export
Trade Certificate and who has been certified as a ``Member'' within the
meaning of Sec. 325.2(1) of the Regulations (15 CFR 325.2(1) (2002).
Dated: November 15, 2002.
Jeffrey C. Anspacher,
Director, Office of Export Trading, Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 02-29583 Filed 11-20-02; 8:45 am]