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

[Federal Register: January 6, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 4)]

[Notices]

[Page 760-761]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

Export Trade Certificate of Review

ACTION: Notice of issuance of an Export Trade Certificate of Review,

Application No. 99-00005.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an Export Trade

Certificate of Review to California Almond Export Association, LLC

(``CAEA''). This notice summarizes the conduct for which certification

has been granted.

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 400l-21) authorizes the Secretary of

Commerce to issue Export Trade Certificates of Review. The regulations

implementing Title III are found at 15 CFR part 325 (1999).

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

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

Export Trade

1. Products

California almonds in processed and unprocessed form.

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, 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

1. CAEA, on its own behalf or on behalf of all or less than all of

its Members, through CAEA or through Export Intermediaries (to the

extent provided in section 1.g) may:

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. Conduct marketing and distribution

of Products;

c. Promotion. Conduct 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. 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 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 Nonexclusive Export Intermediaries. Enter into

exclusive and nonexclusive 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;

and

h. Non-Member Activities. Purchase Products from non-Members to

fulfill specific sales obligations, provided that CAEA 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.

2. CAEA and its Members may exchange and discuss the following

information:

a. Information about sale 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 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 export customer credit terms and credit

history.

3. CAEA and its Members may prescribe the following conditions for

admission of Members to CAEA and termination of membership in CAEA:

a. Membership shall be limited to Handlers as defined under

``Definitions'' paragraph 2.

b. Membership shall terminate on the occurrence of one or more 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 CAEA's Operating Agreement, after prior written notice to

the Member proposed to be expelled and an opportunity of such Member to

appear and be heard before a meeting of the Members;

[[Page 761]]

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 CAEA's Operating

Agreement.

4. CAEA and its Members may 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, including providing, or

arranging for the provision of, Export Trade Facilitation Services.

2. ``Handler'' means a person who handles almonds grown in

California as defined in 7 CFR Section 981.13, under the Order

Regulating Handling of Almonds Grown in California.

3. ``Member,'' within the meaning of section 325.2(1) of the

Regulations, means the members of CAEA as set out in Attachment A and

incorporated by reference.

Terms and Conditions of Certificate

1. Except as provided in paragraph 2(b) and (e) of the Export Trade

Activities and Methods of Operation above, CAEA and its Members shall

not intentionally disclose, directly or indirectly, to any Handler

(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 necessary term or condition of an actual or potential bona fide

sale or purchase of 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

Products.

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. Any agreements, discussions, or exchanges of information under

this Certificate relating to quantities of Products available for

Export Markets, Product specifications or standards, export prices,

Product quality or other terms and conditions of export sales (other

than export financing) shall be in connection only with actual or

potential bona fide export transactions or opportunities and shall

include only those Members participating or having a genuine interest

in participating in such transactions or opportunities, provided that

CAEA and/or the Members may discuss standardization of Products for

purposes of making bona fide recommendations to foreign governmental or

private standard-setting organizations.

6. 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 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.

Protection Provided by Certificate

The Certificate protects CAEA, its Members, and their directors,

officers, and employees acting on their behalf, from private treble

damage actions and government criminal and civil suits under U.S.

federal and state antitrust laws for the export conduct specified in

this Certificate and carried out during its effective period in

compliance with its terms and conditions.

A copy of this Certificate will be kept in the International Trade

Administration's Freedom of Information Records Inspection Facility

Room 4102, U.S. Department of Commerce, l4th Street and Constitution

Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230.

Dated: December 27, 1999.

Morton Schnabel,

Director, Office of Export Trading, Company Affairs.

Attachment A

Members (Within the meaning of Section 325.2(1) of the Regulations)

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

Fair Trade Corner, Inc., Chico, CA

Gold Hills Nut Co., Inc., Ballico, CA

Golden West Nuts, Inc., 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

P-R Farms, Inc., Clovis, CA

Santa Fe Nut Company, Ballico, CA

South Valley Farms, Wasco, CA

Western Nut Company, Chico, CA

[FR Doc. 00-262 Filed 1-5-00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P

Last Updated: 8/25/15 4:39 PM