Office of Export Trading Company Affairs

The Office of Export Trading Company Affairs (OETCA) was created by the Export Trading Company Act of 1982. The Office has two primary functions. First, it promotes exports by small to medium sized enterprises ( SMEs). It does this by encouraging them (1) to cooperate with each other by exporting their products jointly, and (2) to consider the use of trade intermediaries to assist them with their export activities. We facilitate these activities by publishing a print and electronic directory of firms interested in exporting that has a separate section devoted to trade intermediaries. Second, we offer an antitrust insurance policy for cooperative activities undertaken by U.S. firms in export markets that have no anticompetitive spillover effects in the U.S. market. The insurance policy, an Export Certificate of Review, is issued by the Department of Commerce with the concurrence of the Department of Justice.

A producer can use a trade intermediary to serve as the producer’s entire export department or as any single part of its export department. SMEs sometimes do not have an export department. They may be unaware of either the names of other SMEs interested in exporting or of the names of trade intermediaries who might help them to export either singularly or in combination with other SMEs. Trade intermediaries can supply any or all of the services necessary to get the product from the U.S. producer to the foreign buyer.

A partnership between OETCA and Global Publishers produces the U.S. Department of Commerce myEXPORTS.com, a print and electronic directory of U.S. firms that are interested in exporting. A separate section on trade intermediaries is included in both directories. U. S. firms can register for a free listing in myEXPORTS.com on-line at www.myEXPORTS.com. Display ads can be purchased at relatively low cost. If your firm has not yet tooled up for the world of electronic commerce, Global can provide you with these tools for a modest fee. For example, a hyperlink from myEXPORTS.com to your home page costs $75. Call Global toll free at 1-877-390-2629.

Scale economies are often available to exporters, for example, shipping the product, buying insurance, warehousing the product abroad, hiring foreign representation and conducting market research. In addition, larger contracts may be bid on and a fuller line of complementary products may be offered, when SMEs cooperate with one another. By exporting together, SMEs can take advantage of economies of scale that are available to larger firms.

Such cooperation can easily extend beyond activities involving scale economies. A common price may be set in export markets. The export markets may themselves be divided up by the cooperating firms. These are activities for which it is especially difficult to know beforehand whether spillover effects into the U.S. market may be judged to be present, activities for which it is especially useful to obtain a Certificate of Review. The Certificate assures you that you will not be sued by the government for engaging in the activities that are certified. In addition, your liability in private sector suits is limited to single rather than triple damages. Furthermore, if you are sued and you win, you can recover your legal fees.

An application for a Certificate of Review can be found on our home page. OETCA staff are available to help you answer any or all of the questions. All materials sent to us in connection with an application are exempt from FOIA. There is no application fee.