March 15, 2003
Memorandum for Foreign-Trade Zone Grantees
From: Dennis Puccinelli
Executive Secretary
Subjects: Annual Report; Homeland Security; FTZ Contact Information; FTZ Staff Address
1. ANNUAL REPORTS
Enclosed is a copy of the recently published FTZ Board FY 2001 annual report. A copy of the report is also available on our web site in both PDF and text formats: http://ia.ita.doc.gov/ftzpage.
Again, let me express our appreciation for your continued efforts to prepare and submit your individual zone annual reports to the Board in a timely manner. Last year, most zones submitted reports on time and responded quickly to our follow up questions. This was very important in helping us to review and process over 300 reports and compile the statistics for our annual report. A few were very late and this delayed our preparation of the enclosed report. Such very late reports are regarded as serious matters.
For FY 2002, we are making good progress, and we again express our appreciation for your responsiveness. For grantees who have not yet submitted a final report for FY 2002, we must ask that you and your operators make every effort to complete this requirement within the next 30 days. Please note that even inactive zones must submit a very brief status report (in letter format) indicating continued interest and a plan for activation.
An electronic copy of the latest version of our annual report format is available on the FTZ web site http://ia.ita.doc.gov/ftzpage. We suggest that you download the new format and store it on your computer, so that you do not need to reenter permanent zone information from year to year. (It is suggested that you use Times New Roman 12 font to keep the original formatting.)
Oil refinery subzones have a special version of the annual report format called "Annual Report Guidelines for Oil Refinery Subzones." A copy of the oil refinery annual report guideline can be found on the FTZ web site.
I ask grantees to pass a copy of this memo and the new annual report format to all of your zone and subzone operators and ensure that all communications from the FTZ Board are made available to those operators.
2. HOMELAND SECURITY
As you are probably aware, the U.S. Customs Service has been transferred to the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Customs is now under the DHS Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. The Port Director of the Bureau of Customs and Border
Protection will function in the same manner as the former Customs Service Port Director with respect to FTZs.
This change serves to highlight that security is a top priority. We recognize the efforts that FTZ grantees and operators have
made to maintain a secure environment and the special Customs rules that require it. (FTZs are subject to security requirements
that exceed those required of importers in general.) However, as we have indicated previously, in the high security environment
in which we are currently living, we must all work to improve our procedures beyond what we have done in the past. FTZ grantees and
operators have a special responsibility to take extra care to ensure security within their zone project. Grantees and operators
should actively oversee all parties using the zone and of all activities occurring within the zone, conducting regular inspections of
active zone facilities. They should contact their Port Director of Customs and Border Protection if they have any concerns. We
ask that FTZ grantees and operators review and follow the guidelines in the security bulletin published by Customs and posted on our
web site (http://ia.ita.doc.gov/ftzpage/security.html).
3. ZONE CONTACT INFORMATION
It is important that each zone provide the FTZ staff with updated information with respect to your address and contact person. We recently made a major effort to update our list of zones and contact persons, however it is the responsibility of each zone to inform us of changes. This list can be found on our web page under the menu item "List of FTZs and Contact Persons." In order to make it easier for you to provide us with updated information, we have provided an "e-mail" link at the beginning of the list on the web page. Please click on that link or e-mail Elizabeth_Whiteman@ita.doc.gov to provide us with updated information (include zone number, grantee organization, address, contact name, phone and fax).
This list is not only the FTZ staff's primary means of contacting your zone, but it is also an important reference for businesses that may be interested in contacting your zone.
4. FTZ OFFICE ADDRESS
This is a further notice regarding the address of our new office space. The offices of the FTZ staff are located in Suite 4100W of the Franklin Court Building, Washington, DC. Correspondence sent by private (non U.S. postal service) delivery services may be sent directly to our new building at the first address below. Correspondence sent using the U.S. Postal Service should be addressed to the second address below.
1. Private Package Service Address
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
U.S. Department of Commerce
Franklin Court Building - Suite 4100W
1099 14th St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
2. U.S. Postal Service Address
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
U.S. Department of Commerce
FCB - 4100W
1401 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
FTZ Staff.
For those of you that have not had the opportunity to visit the FTZ Board staff recently, I would like to provide you with an updated list of our staff members. Our e-mail addresses are first and last names, separated with an underscore ("_"), plus "@ita.doc.gov".
