[Federal Register: April 22, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 77)]
[Notices]
[Page 19782-19783]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22ap03-31]
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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. 02-00005.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an Export Trade
Certificate of Review to the Virginia Apple Growers Association Inc.,
(``VAGA''). This notice summarizes the conduct for which certification
has been granted.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey C. Anspacher, Director, Office
of Export Trading Company Affairs, International Trade Administration,
by telephone at (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. Sections 4001-21) authorizes the Secretary of
Commerce to issue Export Trade Certificates of Review. The regulations
implementing Title III are found at 15 CFR part 325 (2002).
The Office of Export Trading Company Affairs (AOETCA'') is issuing
this notice pursuant to 15 CFR 325.6(b), which requires the Department
of Commerce to publish a summary of the 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
A. Products
1. Fresh Apples: Any variety of apples intended for human
consumption including but not limited to: Red Delicious, Golden
Delicious, Rome, Stayman, York, Winesap, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Red,
Gala, Empire McIntosh, Fuji, Ginger Gold, Braebur, and Cortland.
2. Processed Apples: Includes a variety of apple products used for
human consumption; mainly apple juice, apple cider, applesauce and
apple butter.
B. Export Trade Facilitation Services (as They Relate to the Export of
Products)
All export-related services, including, but not limited to,
international market research, marketing, advertising, sales promotion,
brokering, handling, transportation, common marking and identification,
communication and processing of foreign orders to and for Members,
financing, export licensing and other trade documentation, warehousing,
shipping, legal assistance, foreign exchange and taking title to goods.
II. Export Market
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. Members (Within the Meaning of Section 325.(1) of the Regulations)
Bowman Fruit Sales, L.L.C.,
Timberville, Virginia; Crown Orchard Company, LLP, Batesville,
Virginia; Flippin-Seaman, Inc., Tyro, Virginia; and Fred L. Glaize,
L.C., Winchester, Virginia.
IV. Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation
With respect to export trade activities, VAGA and/or one or more of
its members may on behalf of and with the advice and assistance of its
Members:
1. Participate in negotiations and enter into agreements with
foreign buyers (including governments and private persons) regarding:
a. The quantities, time periods, prices and terms and conditions in
connection with actual or potential bona fide export opportunities, and
b. Non-tariff trade barriers in the Export Markets;
2. Establish export prices and allocate export sales among its
Members, in connection with actual or potential bona fide export
opportunities;
3. Enter into agreements with non-Members, whether or not
exclusive, to provide Export Trade Facilitation Services;
4. Negotiate and enter into agreements with providers of
transportation services for the export of Products;
5. Advise and cooperate with the United States and foreign
governments in:
a. Establishing procedures regulating the export of the Products,
and
b. Fulfilling the phytosanitary and/or funding requirements imposed
by foreign governments for export of the Products;
6. Establish and operate fumigation facilities and administer
phytosanitary protocols to qualify the Products for Export Markets;
7. Communicate and process export orders;
8. Conduct direct sales;
9. Broker or take title to Products acquired from non-Member
producers whenever necessary to fulfill specific sales obligations;
10. Operate foreign sales and distribution offices and companies to
facilitate the sales and distribution of the Products in the Export
Markets;
11. Refuse to deal with or provide quotations to other Export
Intermediaries for sales of the Members' Products into the Export
Markets;
12. Retain the option for VAGA to be the exporter of record with
regard to sales conducted by and through VAGA;
13. Develop internal operational procedures and disseminate
information to Members to assist the membership in meeting the criteria
necessary for exporting;
14. VAGA, through employees or agents of VAGA who are not also
employees of a Member, may receive and each Member may supply to such
employees or agents of VAGA, information as to such Member's actual or
intended total export shipments of certified products in any previous
or future growing season or seasons, provided that such information is
not
[[Page 19783]]
disclosed by VAGA to any other Member;
15. Exchange information with and among the Members as necessary to
carry out the Export Trade Facilitation Services, Export Trade
Activities and Methods of Operation;
16. Provide Export Market entry and development assistance to its
Members, including:
a. Designing and executing foreign marketing strategies for VAGA's
Export Markets,
b. Designing, developing and marketing generic corporate labels,
and
c. Other related administrative and promotional services;
17. Solicit non-Members to become Members;
18. Recover administrative expenses and costs through fees and
assessments allocated to each Member on a pro-rata share basis or any
other non-discriminatory method. Any Member objecting to the method of
allocating expenses and costs will be charged based on actual expenses
incurred;
19. Apply for and utilize export assistance and incentive programs,
as well as arrange financing through bank holding companies,
governmental programs, and other arrangements; and
20. Bill and collect from foreign buyers and provide accounting,
tax, legal and consulting assistance and services.
V. Definition
``Export Intermediary'' means a person who acts as a distributor,
sales representative, sales or marketing agent, broker, or who performs
similar functions including providing or arranging for the provision of
Export Trade Facilitation Services.
VI. Terms and Conditions of Certificate
1. In engaging in Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation,
neither VAGA, nor any Member, shall intentionally disclose, directly or
indirectly, to any Member (including parent companies, subsidiaries, or
other entities related to any Member) any information regarding any
other Member's costs, production, inventories, domestic prices,
domestic sales, domestic customers, capacity to produce apples for
domestic sale, domestic orders, 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. VAGA 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.
VII. Protection Provided by Certificate
This Certificate protects VAGA, its Members, and directors,
officers, and employees acting on behalf of VAGA and its Members 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 the Certificate and carried out during its effective
period in compliance with its terms and conditions.
VIII. Effective Period of Certificate
This Certificate continues in effect from the effective date
indicated below until it is relinquished, modified, or revoked as
provided in the Act and the Regulations.
IX. Other Conduct
Nothing in this Certificate prohibits VAGA and its Members from
engaging in conduct not specified in this Certificate, but such conduct
is subject to the normal application of U.S. antitrust laws.
X. Disclaimer
The issuance of this Certificate of Review to VAGA by the Secretary
of Commerce with the concurrence of the Attorney General under the
provisions of the Act does not constitute, explicitly or implicitly, an
endorsement or opinion by the Secretary of Commerce or the Attorney
General concerning either (a) the viability or quality of the business
plans of VAGA or its Members or (b) the legality of such business plans
of VAGA or its Members under the laws of the United States (other than
as provided in the Act) or under the laws of any foreign country.
The application of this Certificate to conduct in Export Trade
where the United States Government is the buyer or where the United
States Government bears more than half the cost of the transaction is
subject to the limitations set forth in Section V.(D.) of the
``Guidelines for the Issuance of Export Trade Certificates of Review
(Second Edition),'' 50 FR 1786 (January 11, 1985).
In accordance with the authority granted under the Act and the
Regulations, this Certificate of Review is hereby issued to the
Virginia Apple Growers Association, Inc.
The effective date of the Certificate is April 4, 2003. 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, NW., Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: April 16, 2003.
Jeffrey C. Anspacher,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 03-9833 Filed 4-21-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P