[Federal Register: April 27, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 82)]
[Notices]
[Page 21119-21121]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27ap01-37]
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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 oetca@ita.doc.gov.
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
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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