[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 84 (Thursday, May 1, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23764-23766]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-11288]
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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.97-00001.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has issued an Export Trade
Certificate of Review to Dairy Marketing Information Association. This
notice summarizes the conduct for which certification has been granted.
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. The regulations implementing
Title III are found at 15 CFR Part 325 (1996).
The Office of Export Trading Company Affairs (``OETCA'') is
publishing 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 Products
Dry sweet whey; 35% whey protein concentrate (``WPC''), and edible
grade lactose. (Standard Industrial Classification Code 202-2023)
Export Trade Facilitation Services (as they Relate to the Export of
Products)
Export Trade Facilitation Services including professional services
in the areas of consulting, marketing and trade promotion, legal
assistance, communication and processing of sales leads and export
orders, and negotiation of price to be paid by foreign buyer.
Export Markets
The Export Markets include all parts of the world except the United
States (the fifty states of the United States, 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
Subject to the requirements in Paragraph 14, as applicable,
DMIA and/or one or more Members may:
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1. Enter into joint discussions, negotiations, and bidding with
foreign buyers regarding the purchase of Products.
2. Act jointly to negotiate and establish export prices for
Products to be marketed through DMIA's Export Trade Facilitation
Services, in connection with actual or potential bona fide export
opportunities, provided that each DMIA Member remains free to deviate
from the joint export price in independently exporting its Products not
dedicated to DMIA.
3. Act jointly to establish sales strategies for Products in the
Export Markets.
4. Process export orders for Products on behalf of DMIA Members.
5. Exchange information regarding export transactions of Products,
including:
a. information that is already available to the dairy industry
or to the general public;
b. information on costs specific to the Export Markets (such as
ocean freight, inland freight to the terminal or port, terminal or
port storage, wharfage and handling charges, insurance, agents,
commissions, export sales documentation and service, and export
sales financing);
c. information about U.S. and foreign legislation and
regulations affecting sales of Products to Export Markets;
d. information about the price, quantity, and delivery dates of
Products supplied by DMIA Members for export through DMIA's Export
Trade Facilitation Services;
e. information about terms and conditions of contracts for sales
of Products in the Export Markets to be considered by DMIA Members,
including specifications from particular customers as well as
customary terms and conditions;
f. information about DMIA's international marketing efforts and
promotional activities regarding Products undertaken by DMIA on
behalf of its Members;
g. information about orders for Products received by DMIA; and
h. information about the independent export operations of DMIA
Members regarding Products, including but not limited to, sales and
distribution networks established by DMIA Members, and prior export
sales (including foreign customer and export price information).
6. Jointly sponsor promotional, sales and marketing efforts aimed
at developing existing or new Export Markets for Products.
7. Provide through DMIA Export Trade Facilitation Services to
assist the export of Members' Products.
8. Share among the Members, on the basis of each Member's
proportionate supply of Product for a particular export transaction,
the net revenue resulting from such export sale of Products through
DMIA, and the cost of associated Export Trade Facilitation Services.
9. Select a Member to negotiate and arrange for transportation of
Products.
10. Reimburse through DMIA the transport costs expended by the
Member responsible for transporting the Products for a particular
export sale transacted through DMIA's clearing services, where such
transport costs are shared by the Members proportionate to the quantity
of the Product that each Member supplies for that particular export
transaction.
11. Meet to engage in the activities described in paragraphs one
through ten above.
12. Utilize staff of the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives or,
as needed the staff of a Member cooperative to implement the activities
described in paragraphs one through eleven above.
13. Refuse to provide export clearing services for Products and
participation in the other activities described in paragraphs one
through twelve above to non-members.
14. DMIA may conduct the above mentioned Export Trade Activities
provided, however, that:
a. each DMIA Member shall independently determine: (1) whether
to participate in any particular export sale, and (2) the quantity
of a Product that Member will make available for sale in the Export
Markets; and
b. in the event of an overcommitment of the Products from the
Members, DMIA may have subsequent communications with Members who
have made commitments to reduce the quantities committed to meet the
amount of the Products needed.
Terms and Conditions of Certificate
(a) Except as provided in paragraph 5(b) of Export Trade Activities
and Methods of Operation, neither DMIA nor any member shall
intentionally disclose, to any other Member any information about its
costs, output, capacity, inventories, domestic prices, domestic sales,
domestic orders, terms of domestic marketing or sale, or U.S. business
plans, strategies or methods that is not already generally available to
the trade or public.
(b) 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.
A member may withdraw from coverage under this Certificate at any time
by giving written notice to DMIA, a copy of which DMIA shall promptly
transmit to the Departments of Commerce and Justice.
(c) DMIA 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.
Members (Within the Meaning of Section 325.2(1) of the Regulations)
Land O'Lakes, Inc., Minneapolis, MN; Foremost Farms USA, Baraboo,
WI; Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO; Ellsworth Cooperative
Creamery Association, Ellsworth, WI; Darigold Farms, Seattle, WA;
Associated Milk Producers, Inc. (AMPI), Arlington, TX; Alto Dairy
Cooperative, Waupun, WI; Swiss Valley Farms, Co., Davenport, IA; First
District Association, Litchfield, MN; and Dairymen's Cooperative
Creamery Association, Tulare, CA.
Protection Provided by Certificate
This Certificate protects DMIA, its Members, and their directors,
officers, employees and agents acting on their behalf, from private
treble damage actions and governmental 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.
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.
Other Conduct
Nothing in this Certificate prohibits DMIA or its Members from
engaging in conduct not specified in this Certificate, but such conduct
is subject to the normal application of the antitrust laws.
Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, nothing in this Certificate
shall reduce, diminish or otherwise affect DMIA's or its members rights
and protections under existing law, including the Cooperative Marketing
Act of 1926, 7 U.S.C. Section 455 and the Capper-Volstead Act, 7 U.S.C.
Section 291.
Disclaimer
The issuance of this Certificate of Review to DMIA by the Secretary
of Commerce with the concurrence of the Attorney General under the
provisions of the Act does not constitute, explicitly
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or implicitly, an endorsement or opinion by the United States
Government concerning either (a) The viability or quality of the
business plans of DMIA or its Members or (b) the legality of such
business plans of DMIA 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 Issuance of Export Trade Certificates of Review
(Second Edition),'' 50 Fed. Reg. 1786 (January 11, 1985).
In accordance with the authority granted under the Act and
Regulations, this Export Trade Certificate of Review is hereby granted
to DMIA.
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 25, 1997.
W. Dawn Busby,
Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-11288 Filed 4-30-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P