00-9493. Export Trade Certificate of Review

ACTION:

Notice of application.

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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Morton Schnabel, Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs, International Trade Administration, [phone] (this is not a toll-free number) or E-mail at [e-mail].

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. If the comments include any privileged or confidential business information, it must be clearly marked and a nonconfidential version of the comments (identified as such) should be included. Any comments not marked privileged or confidential business information will be deemed to be nonconfidential. An original and five copies, plus two copies of the nonconfidential version, 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 1104H, Washington, DC 20230, or transmit by E-mail at [e-mail]. Information submitted by any person is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). However, nonconfidential versions of the comments will be made available to the applicant if necessary for determining whether or not to issue the Certificate. Comments should refer to this application as “Export Trade Certificate of Review, application number 00-00003.” A summary of the application follows.

Summary of the Application

Applicant: North America Fruit Trading Alliance, L.L.C. (“NAFTA”), PO Box 574, Frankfort, Michigan 49635.

Contact: Donald W. Nugent, President, Telephone: [phone].

Application No.: 00-00003.

Date Deemed Submitted: April 10, 2000.

Members (in addition to applicant): Graceland Fruit, Inc., Frankfort, MI; Burnette Foods, Inc., Elk Rapids, MI; Milne Fruit Products, Inc., Prosser, WA (Controlling Entity: Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Lakeville, MA); and Northern Michigan Fruit Co., Omena, MI.

NAFTA seeks a Certificate to cover the following specific Export Trade, Export Markets, and Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operations.

Export Trade

1. Products

Processed red cherries (prunus cerasus); cherry products including but not limited to cherry pie filling, water pack cherries, cherry juice concentrate, dried cherries, frozen pack cherries, individually quick frozen cherries, cherry sausage, cherry jams, jellies an sauces.

Processed sweet cherries including but not limited to individually quick frozen and stored in freezer (IQF); cherries canned in water, light syrup, heavy syrup, extra heavy syrup or as a pie fill; and juice from sweet cherries.

2. Technology Rights

Patents, trademarks, service marks, copyrights, trade secrets, know-how, and semiconductor mask works, involving cherry processing.

3. Export Trade Facilitation Services (as they Relate to the Export of Products and Technology Rights)

Trade promotion, marketing, sales, and transportation services (including packing, transportation, wharfing and handling, trade documentation, freight forwarding, storage, and customs clearance).

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).

The proposed Export Trade Certificate of Review would extend antitrust protection to NAFTA to conduct the following export trade activities:

1. Negotiate and enter into agreements with buyers in the Export Markets;

2. Negotiate and enter into agreements with foreign governments and other persons in the Export Markets regarding the quantities, time periods, prices, terms, and conditions upon which the Members will export Products and/or Technology Rights through NAFTA.

3. Allocate export sales and/or Export Markets among the Members on the basis of each Member's commitment of Products and/or Technology Rights for export;

4. Establish prices and terms of sale for the Export Markets;

5. Use the NAFTA or other common brand or label;

6. Negotiate and enter into agreement, on behalf of and with the advice of the Members, for the provision of Export Trade Facilitation Services (including trade shows, advertising, and contract marketing services);

7. Share among the Members the cost of Export Trade Facilitation Services;

8. Grant exclusive distribution rights in Export Markets for Products and/or Technology Rights to non-Members; “Exclusive” means that the non-Member distributor may agree not to represent any person or firms other than NAFTA in the export of Products and/or Technology Rights in any Export Markets; and/or NAFTA may agree not to export Products and/or Technology Rights in any Export Market through any distributor other than that non-Member distributor;

9. Advise and cooperate with the United States Government or any agency of the United States Government in establishing procedures regulating the export of Products and/or Technology Rights; and

10. Conduct product research and design for Products (and develop, obtain, and license associated Technology Rights) only when conducted exclusively for export, including meeting foreign regulatory requirements and foreign buyers specifications, and identifying and designing for foreign buyer preferences; provided, however, that the Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation do not cover activity that relates to the use of Technology Rights for the U.S. domestic market.

Definition

“Supplier” means a person, including each member, who produces, provides, or sells Products, Technology Rights, or Export Trade Facilitation Services.

Dated: April 12, 2000.

Morton Schnabel,

Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.