[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 23, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71092-71094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-33989]
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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. 98-00001.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an Export Trade
Certificate of Review to Fresh Fruit Exporters Association. 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. 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 (1998).
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
Export Trade
1. Products
Fresh fruit.
2. Services
Inspection, quality control, marketing and promotional services.
3. Technology Rights
Proprietary rights to all technology associated with Products or
Services, including, but not limited to: patents, trademarks, service
marks, trade names, copyrights, trade secrets, and know-how.
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4. Export Trade Facilitation Services (as They Relate to the Export of
Products, Services and Technology Rights)
All export trade-related facilitation services, including, but not
limited to: consulting and trade strategy; sales and marketing; export
brokerage; foreign marketing research; foreign market development;
overseas advertising and promotion; product research and design based
on foreign buyer and consumer preferences; inspection and quality
control; transportation; insurance; billing of foreign buyers;
collection (letters of credit and other financial instruments);
provision of overseas sales and distribution facilities and overseas
sales staff; legal, accounting and tax assistance; management
information systems development and application; assistance related to
participation in government export assistance programs, such as the
Export Enhancement and Market Promotion programs.
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).
Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation
In connection with the promotion and sale of Members' Products,
Services and/or Technology Rights into the Export Markets, FFEA and/or
one or more of its Members may:
1. Design and execute foreign marketing strategies for its Export
Markets;
2. Prepare joint bids, establish export prices for Members'
Products and Services, and establish terms of sale in Export Markets in
connection with potential or actual bona fide opportunities;
3. Design, develop and market generic corporate labels for use in
Export Markets;
4. Engage in joint promotional activities directly targeted at
developing Export Markets, such as: arranging trade shows and marketing
trips; providing advertising services; providing brochures and industry
newsletters; providing product, service, and industry information;
conducting international market and product research; and procuring
international marketing, advertising, and promotional services;
5. Share the cost of joint promotional activities among the
Members;
6. Conduct product and packaging research and development
exclusively for export in order to meet foreign regulatory
requirements, foreign buyer specifications, and foreign consumer
preferences;
7. Negotiate and enter into agreements with governments and other
foreign persons regarding non-tariff trade barriers in Export Markets;
8. Establish and operate fumigation facilities and provide
specialized packing operations and other quality control procedures to
be followed by Members in the export of Products into Export Markets;
9. Assist each other in maintaining the quality standards necessary
to be successful in Export Markets;
10. Advise and cooperate with agencies of the U.S. Government in
establishing procedures regulating the export of Members' Products,
Services and/or Technology Rights into Export Markets;
11. Negotiate and enter into purchase agreements with buyers in
Export Markets regarding export prices, quantities, type and quality of
Products, time periods, and the terms and conditions of sale;
12. Broker or take title to Products intended for Export Markets;
13. Purchase Products from non-Member producers to fulfill specific
sales obligations, provided that FFEA and/or 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;
14. Solicit non-Member producers to become Members;
15. Procure, negotiate, contract, and administer transportation
services for Products in the course of export, including overseas
freight transportation, inland freight transportation from the packing
house to the U.S. port of embarkment, leasing of transportation
equipment and facilities, storing and warehousing, stevedoring,
wharfage and handling, insurance, and freight forwarder services;
16. Arrange for trade documentation and services, customs
clearance, financial instruments, and foreign exchange;
17. Arrange financing through private financial entities;
18. Bill and collect monies from foreign buyers, and arrange for or
provide accounting, tax, legal and consulting services in relation to
Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation;
19. Enter into exclusive agreements with non-Members to provide
Export Trade Facilitation Services;
20. Apply for and utilize applicable export assistance and
incentive programs available within governmental sectors;
21. Negotiate and enter into agreements with governments and
foreign persons to develop countertrade arrangements, provided that
this Certificate does not protect any conduct related to the sale of
goods in the United States that are imported as part of any
countertrade transactions;
22. Refuse to deal with or provide quotations to other Export
Intermediaries for sales of Members' Products into Export Markets;
23. Require common marking and identification of Members' Products
sold in Export Markets;
24. Exchange information as necessary to carry out Export Trade
Activities and Methods of Operation, including:
(a) Information about sales, marketing efforts, and sales
strategies in Export Markets, including pricing; projected demand in
Export Markets for Products; customary terms of sale; and foreign buyer
and consumer product specifications;
(b) Information about the price, quality, quantity, source and
delivery dates of Products available from the Members for export;
(c) Information about terms and conditions of contracts for sales
in Export Markets to be considered and/or bid on by FFEA and/or
Members;
(d) Information about expenses specific to exporting to and within
Export Markets, including transportation, transshipments, intermodal
shipments, insurance, inland freight to port, port storage,
commissions, export sales, documentation, financing and customs duties
or taxes;
(e) Information about U.S. and foreign legislation and regulations,
including Federal marketing order programs that may affect sales to
Export Markets;
(f) Information about FFEA's or Members' export operations,
including sales and distribution networks established by FFEA or
Members in Export Markets, and prior export sales by Members, including
export price information; and
(g) Information about claims or bad debts by FFEA's or Members'
customers in Export Markets.
Definitions
1. Export Intermediary means a person who acts as distributor,
sales representative, sales or marketing agent,
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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 FFEA and who has
been certified as a ``Member'' within the meaning of Section 325.2(1)
of the Regulations, set out in Attachment A and incorporated by
reference.
Terms and Conditions of Certificate
1. Except as provided in paragraphs 24(b) and 24(d) of the Export
Trade Activities and Methods of Operation, neither FFEA nor any Member
shall intentionally disclose, directly or indirectly, to any other
Member any information about its or any other Member's costs,
production, capacity, inventories, domestic prices, domestic sales,
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 sale and
the disclosure is limited to the prospective purchasing Member.
2. Each Member shall determine independently of other Members the
quantity of Products the Member will make available for export or sell
through FFEA. FFEA may not solicit from any Member specific quantities
for export or require any Member to export any minimum quantity of
products.
3. 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
FFEA and/or the Members may discuss standardization of Products and
Services for purposes of making bona fide recommendations to foreign
governmental or private standard-setting organizations.
4. Meetings at which FFEA allocates export sales among Members and
establishes export prices shall not be open to the public.
5. 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, Services or Technology Rights in specific export
transactions. A Member may withdraw from coverage under this
Certificate at any time by giving written notice to FFEA, a copy of
which FFEA shall promptly transmit to the Secretary of Commerce and the
Attorney General.
6. FFEA 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.
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, 14th Street and Constitution
Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230.
Dated: December 17, 1998.
Morton Schnabel,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
Attachment A
Members (within the meaning of Section 325.2(1) of the
Regulations):
Autenrieth & Gray, Agoura Hills, CA
Fresh Western International, Inc., Salinas, CA
Fruit Unlimited Inc., Visalia, CA
Giscal Limited, U.S.A., Los Angeles, CA
Great Oriental Corporation, Anaheim, CA
Pandol Bros., Inc., Delano, CA
Paramount Export Company, Oakland, CA
Primary Export International, Inc., South San Francisco, CA Renown
LLC, Redlands, CA
United Fruits (Calif.) Corp. and United Overseas Trading Corp.,
Santa Monica, CA
Vanguard Trading Services, Inc., Issaquah, WA
Westlake-Miller, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
[FR Doc. 98-33989 Filed 12-22-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P