[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 227 (Friday, November 22, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59418-59419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-29865]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
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, 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.
Applicant has requested expedited review.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: W. Dawn Busby, 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. 4001-21) authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to
issue Export Trade Certificates of Review. A 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 Act 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. An original and
five (5) copies should be submitted no later than 20 days after the
date of this notice to: Office of Export Trading Company Affairs,
International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, Room 1800H,
Washington, D.C. 20230. Information submitted by any person is exempt
from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).
Comments should refer to this application as ``Export Trade Certificate
of Review, application number 96-00007.'' A summary of the application
follows.
Summary of the Application
Applicant: Committee for the Fair Allocation of Rice Quotas
(``CFARQ''), 3050 K Street, N.W., Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20007.
Contact: Laurence J. Lasoff, Attorney, Telephone: (202) 342-8400.
Application No.: 96-00007.
Date Deemed Submitted: November 8, 1996.
Members (in addition to applicant): Cargill Incorporated,
Greenville, Mississippi; Louis Dreyfus Corporation, Wilton,
Connecticut; and Riviana Foods, Inc., Houston, Texas.
CFARQ seeks a Certificate to cover the following specific Export
Trade, Export Markets, and Export Trade Activities and Methods of
Operations.
Export Trade
Products
Semi-milled and wholly milled rice, whether or not polished or
glazed (Harmonized Tariff Schedule 1006.30) (referred to as ``milled
rice'') and husked (brown) rice (Harmonized Tariff Schedule 1006.20).
Export Markets
For purposes of administering the European Union's tariff rate
quota: The countries of the European Union.
For purposes of Export Trade Activity and Method of Operation: 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).
Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation
1. The Committee will administer a system for allocating the U.S.
share of the European Union (``EU'') tariff rate quotas (``TRQs'') for
milled rice and brown rice (roughly 38,000 tons of milled rice and
8,000 tons of brown rice) agreed to as compensation to the United
States for the enlargement of the EU to include Austria, Finland, and
Sweden, as follows:
a. The Committee will operate a quota tender system in which
certificates of quotas will be offered on open tender to the highest
bidder 30 days prior to the release of each quota tranche, as defined
by the EU.
b. The administration of the quota tender system will be carried
out by an independent economic consultant, who will be retained by the
Committee for purposes of administering the tender program.
c. Thirty days prior to the beginning of each tranche of tariff
rate quota, the Committee, through its consultant, will offer separate
sub-parcels of quota amounting to 100 tons each. Anyone, whether a
member of the Committee or not, will be eligible to bid on each sub-
parcel, upon posting a five percent bid bond.
d. The Committee will issue a written request to bid on each
available sub-parcel, as well as an official form on which to place the
bid. Potential bidders will have five working days to respond to the
bid request. All bid information will be returned to the consultant
within five working days. At the close of the five day period, the
consultant will award certificates of quotas to the highest bidder on
each sub-parcel upon payment of monies bid. Additionally, the
certificates will be re-tradeable.
e. In the event that identical bids are submitted on a particular
sub-parcel, the consultant will split the parcel among the relevant
bidders.
2. The Committee will oversee the redistribution of proceeds
arising out of the administration of the quota tender system as
follows:
a. The Committee will not decide on the distribution of proceeds
arising out of a particular quota year until the passage of at least
one year after the conclusion of the quota year in question.
b. Once the proceeds from a particular quota year become eligible
for distribution, the Committee will decide on the amount and method of
distribution based on a four-fifths vote of the member companies.
c. In considering the method of redistribution the Committee may
take into account a number of factors including: (1) the share of the
European market held by the individual members during the period; (2)
the share of the world market held by the individual members during the
period; (3) extraordinary factors that may have affected individual
members during the period; and (4) such other factors as the Committee
deems appropriate.
3. The Committee and/or its Members may use funds generated through
the quota tender process to conduct market development activities if
the Committee so chooses. The Committee and/or its Members may exchange
or discuss information necessary for the carrying out of such programs.
4. The Committee and/or its Members may:
a. Provide for an administrative structure to implement the
foregoing tariff rate quota system, relating to the U.S.-EU
Compensation Agreement and EU regulations, including the hiring of
[[Page 59419]]
an independent economic consultant to administer the quota tender
system;
b. Exchange and discuss information regarding the structure and
method for administering the foregoing tariff rate quota system,
relating to the U.S.=EU Compensation Agreement and EU regulations;
c. Discuss the type of information needed regarding past
transactions and exports that are necessary for administering the
foregoing tariff rate quota system relating to the U.S.-EU regulations
and for effectuating any redistribution of proceeds arising out of the
administration of the system.
Abbreviated Amendment Procedures
New Committee members may be incorporated in the Certificate
through an abbreviated amendment procedure. An abbreviated amendment
shall consist of a written notification to the Secretary of Commerce
and the Attorney General identifying the Committee members that desire
to become members under the Certificate pursuant to the abbreviated
amendment procedure and certifying for each such member so identified
its sale of individual products in its prior fiscal year. Notice of the
members so identified shall be published in the Federal Register.
However, the Committee may withdraw one or more individual members from
the application for the abbreviated amendment. If 30 days or more
following publication in the Federal Register, the Secretary of
Commerce, with the concurrence of the Attorney General, determines that
the incorporation in the Certificate of these members through the
abbreviated amendment procedure is consistent with the standards of the
Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall amend the Certificate to
incorporate such members, effective as of the date on which the
application for amendment is deemed submitted. If the Secretary of
Commerce does not within 60 days of publication in the Federal Register
so amend the Certificate, such amendment must be sought through the
non-abbreviated amendment procedure.
Terms and Conditions of Certificate
1. Except as expressly authorized in Export Trade Activity and
Methods of Operation 4(C), in engaging in Export Trade Activities and
Methods of Operation, neither the Committee nor any Member shall
intentionally disclose, directly or indirectly, to any other Member
(including parent companies, subsidiaries, or other entities related to
any Member not named as a Member) any information regarding its or any
other Member's costs, production, inventories, domestic prices,
domestic sales, capacity to produce Products for domestic sale,
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; or (2) the information
disclosed is a necessary term or condition (e.g., price, time required
to fill an order, etc.) of an actual or potential bona fide export sale
and the disclosure is limited to the prospective purchaser.
2. The Committee 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 of Commerce
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.
Definitions
``Member'' means a member of the Committee who has been certified
as a ``Member'' within the meaning of Section 325.1(1) of the
Regulations. Members must sign the Operating Agreement of the Committee
in order to participate in the certified activities. Any U.S. company,
that is actively engaged in rice milling or that has exported U.S. rice
in the preceding or current calendar year and that wishes to
participate in the activities covered by this certificate, may join the
Committee's membership by executing the Operating Agreement and paying
a membership fee of $3,000 per calendar year. Any Committee member that
is not a listed Member may join the Committee's export trade
certificate of review by requesting that the Committee file for an
amended certificate. A Member may withdraw from coverage under this
certificate at any time by giving written notice to the Committee, a
copy of which the Committee will promptly transmit to the Secretary of
Commerce and the Attorney General.
Dated: November 18, 1996.
W. Dawn Busby,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 96-29865 Filed 11-21-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F