DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 18-85]
50 FR 27472
July 3, 1985
Foreign-Trade Zone 57; Mecklenburg County, NC; Application for Subzone at
IBM Printer and Electronic Equipment Plant
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the North Carolina Department of Commerce, grantee of
Foreign-Trade Zone 57, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the
printer and electronic equipment manufacturing plant of International
Busines Machines Corporation (IBM) in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina,
adjacent to the Charlotte, Customs port of entry. The application was
submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Foreign-Trade Zones Act, as
amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u), and the regulations of the Board (15 CFR
Part 400). It was formally filed on June 5, 1985.
The plant is located at Interstate 85 and W. T. Harris Blvd. in
Mecklenburg County. The 1168-acre facility is used to produce electronic
banking equipment, printers, and electronic assemblies, employing 5000
persons. Foreign-sourced parts comprise up to 5.0 percent of finished
product value and include items such as motors, power supplies, mechanical
parts and electronic components. Some 16 percent of the finished products
are exported.
Zone procedures will allow IBM to avoid duty payment on the foreign
parts used in its exports. On domestic sales, the company would be able to
take advantage of the same duty rate available to importers of these
finished products. The duty rates on the imported components used by IBM
range from 4.0 to 11.0 percent, whereas the rates for the finished
equipment range from 4.0 to 4.3 percent. Subzone status will help make
products made at this plant more competitive with those produced abroad.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigate the application and report to the Board. The
committee consists of: Dennis Puccinelli (Chairman), Foreign-Trade Zones
Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; Howard C.
Cooperman, Deputy Assistant Regional Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service,
Southeast Region, 99 S.E. 5th St., Miami, FL 33131; and Colonel Wayne A.
Hanson, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Wilmington, P.O. Box
1890, Wilmington, NC 28402.
Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested persons and organizations. They should be addressed to the
Board's Executive Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or
before August 6, 1985. A copy of the application is available for public
inspection at each of the following locations.
U.S. Customs Service,
Port Director's Office,
3224 Piper Lane.
Charlotte, NC 28219
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th and Pennsylvania NW.,
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dated: June 27, 1985.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 85-15889 Filed 7-2-85; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M