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EXPORT TRADING COMPANY AFFAIRS (ETCA)

The Export Trade Certificate of Review Program - The Competitive Edge for U.S. Exporters

[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]

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.

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

[[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

Last Updated: 8/25/15 5:46 PM