01-17447. 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:

Vanessa M. Bachman, Acting Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs, International Trade Administration, [phone]. 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. 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. 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 01-00004.” A summary of the application follows.

Summary of the Application

Applicant: International Trading Group, LLC (“ITG”), 300 E. Lombard Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202.

Contact: Kathy L. Ducassou, President and Chief Operating Officer.

Telephone: [phone].

Application No.: 01-00004.

Date Deemed Submitted: June 29, 2001.

Members (in addition to applicant): None.

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

Export Trade

1. Products

All products.

2. Services

All services.

3. Technology Rights

Technology Rights, including, but not limited to, patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets that relate to Products and Services.

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

Export Trade Facilitation Services, including, but not limited to: Professional services in the areas of government relations and assistance with state and federal export programs; foreign trade and business protocol; consulting; marketing research analysis; collection of information on trade opportunities; marketing; negotiations; joint ventures; shipping and export management; export licensing; advertising; documentation and services related to compliance with customs requirements; insurance and financing; bonding; warehousing; export trade promotion; trade show exhibitions; organizational development; management and labor strategies; transfer of technology; transportation; and facilitating the formation of shippers' associations.

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 ITG to conduct the following export trade activities:

1. Provide and/or arrange for the provision of Export Trade Facilitation Services;

2. Engage in promotion and marketing activities and collect and distribute information on trade opportunities in the Export Market;

3. Enter into exclusive and/or non-exclusive agreements with distributors, foreign buyers, and/or sales representatives in Export Markets;

4. Enter into exclusive or non-exclusive sales agreements with Suppliers, Export Intermediaries, or other persons for the sale of Products and Services in Export Markets;

5. Enter into exclusive or non-exclusive agreements with Suppliers, Export Intermediaries, or other persons for licensing Technology Rights in Export Markets;

6. Allocate sales, export orders and/or divide Export Markets among Suppliers, Export Intermediaries, or other persons for the sale of Products and Services;

7. Allocate the licensing of Technology Rights in Export Markets among Suppliers, Export Intermediaries, or other persons;

8. Establish the price of Products and Services for sale in Export Markets;

9. Establish the fee for licensing of Technology Rights in Export Markets; and

10. Negotiate, enter into, and/or manage licensing agreements for the export of Technology Rights.

Terms and Conditions of Certificate

1. In engaging in Export Trade Activities and Methods of Operation, ITG will not intentionally disclose, directly or indirectly, to any Supplier any information about any other Supplier's costs, production, capacity, inventories, domestic prices, domestic sales, or U.S. business plans, strategies, or methods that is not already generally available to the trade or public.

2. ITG 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.

Definitions

1. “Export Intermediary” means a person who acts as a distributor, sales representative, sales or marketing agent, or broker, or who performs similar functions, including providing or arranging for the provision of Export Trade Facilitation Services.

2. “Supplier” means a person who produces, provides, or sells a Product and/or Service.

Dated: July 9, 2001.

Vanessa M. Bachman,

Acting Director, Office of Export Trading Company Affairs.