| The Hershey Company | |
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Bert
Alfonso
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100
Crystal A Drive
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Senior
Vice President
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P.
O. Box 810
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Chief
Financial Officer
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Hershey,
PA 17033-0810
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Phone: 717-534-7119
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Fax: 717-534-4055
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November
24, 2008
VIA FAX AND
EDGAR
Mr.
Pradip Bhaumik, Special Counsel
Office of
Global Security Risk
Division
of Corporation Finance
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington,
D.C. 20549-5546
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Re:
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The
Hershey Company
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Form
10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2007
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Filed
February 19, 2008
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File
No. 1-00183
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Dear Mr.
Bhaumik:
We have
reviewed the comment contained in your letter dated November 12, 2008,
concerning The Hershey Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December
31, 2007. For your convenience, we have restated the comment from
your November 12, 2008 letter in bold typeface below, followed by our
response.
General
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1.
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We
are aware of a May 2008 news report that your chocolate syrup is available
in Iran, a country identified by the State Department as a state sponsor
of terrorism, and subject to U.S. economic sanctions and export
controls. We note that your Form 10-K does not include
disclosure regarding your contacts with Iran. Please describe
to us the nature and extent of your past, current, and anticipated
contacts with Iran, whether through direct or indirect
arrangements. Your response should describe any products you
have provided to Iran, and any agreements, commercial arrangements, or
other contacts you have had with the government of that country or
entities controlled by that
government.
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Pradip
Bhaumik
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
November
24, 2008
Page
2
Hershey’s
procedure for ensuring compliance with U.S. sanctions is as
follows:
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1)
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Beginning
in 2006, we have used an online research database to screen new customers
and all known contacts for these proposed customers against published
sanctioned party lists and embargoed countries. Since that time, we have
not received any requests to establish relationships with a business
partner in Iran.
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2)
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In
2007, we performed the same screenings on existing customers and confirmed
none of our existing customers were sending product directly to
Iran.
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3)
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During
2008, we have committed to further enhancing our screening process to
ensure we are not processing orders for any country subject to economic
sanctions and export controls. We initiated a project to
install a Global Trade System as a supporting system to our SAP enterprise
system. This system will screen all customers and vendors
against published sanctioned party lists as well as monitor all customer
sales orders to ensure we are not transacting with any embargoed
countries. We began screening our customers and vendors via
this more rigid list on November 17, 2008. We anticipate the
screening of our sales orders will begin on December 8,
2008.
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In
addition to direct sales to customers, Hershey sells products to distributors
who distribute Hershey products outside of the United States. Hershey’s
agreements with its distributors only allow distributors to sell products within
the territory defined in the distribution agreement. Hershey’s distribution
agreements prohibit a distributor from selling products outside the defined
territory. Hershey does not have any distribution agreements which include Iran
as part of a territory into which Hershey products may be sold.
The
Hershey Company acknowledges the following with respect to the Company’s Form
10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007:
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·
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the
Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in
its filing;
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·
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staff
comments or changes to disclosure in response to staff comments do not
foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the
filing; and
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·
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the
Company may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding
initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities
laws of the United States.
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Pradip
Bhaumik
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
November
24, 2008
Page
3
Please
call me at (717) 534-7119 if you have any questions or need additional
information.
Sincerely,
/s/ Humberto (Bert) P.
Alfonso
Humberto (Bert) P. Alfonso
Humberto (Bert) P. Alfonso
Senior
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission
Cecilia
Blye, Chief
H. Roger
Schwall, Assistant Director
The Hershey
Company
Burton H.
Snyder, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Milton P.
Brice, Vice President, Finance, Hershey International
Thaddeus
J. Jastrzebski, Senior Vice President, President Hershey
International
David W.
Tacka, Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer
David J.
West, President and Chief Executive Officer