Capital District Regional Planning Commission

214 Canal Square, 2nd Floor - Schenectady, NY 12305

For Immediate Release	Contact
September 16, 1996	Chungchin Chen • 393-1715

CDRPC Applies for a New Foreign-Trade Zone Site

Fulton County Site at Crossroads Industrial Park
Will Boost the Region's International Competitiveness

The Capital District Regional Planning Commission, Grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone #121 at Albany, New York, has applied to the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board for authority to establish a fourth FTZ site at the Crossroads Industrial Park in the City of Gloversville, Fulton County, New York, and for approval of manufacturing and processing activities to be conducted by Liberty Optical Manufacturing Company at that Site.

The proposed Zone Site would provide warehousing facilities for companies in the Crossroads Industrial Park and throughout the Region, and allow operation of manufacturing facilities within the Zone for Liberty Optical, a manufacturer and assembler of eyeglass frames for the recreation industry.

The proposed new General-Purpose Zone Site is located at 178 Corporate Drive, Johnstown, NY 12095, on Lots 4 and 5 of the Crossroads Industrial Park. The Industrial Park is within the Gloversville Economic Development Zone, which makes available certain tax credits and abatements and utility price reductions for qualified companies. The proposed FTZ Site consists of a 41,475 square foot industrial warehouse facility, a 36,000 square foot secured storage area for container cargo, and 17,015 square feet of manufacturing space.

The use of Foreign-Trade Zones is part of a comprehensive strategy by Fulton County and Liberty Optical Company to help the County, the Region, and Liberty Optical Company remain competitive in global markets and stimulate domestic production, especially in the area of exports. The Application was prepared by CDRPC and the Fulton County Economic Development Corporation, and was formally filed with the Foreign-Trade Zones Board on September 3, 1996. Notice of the Application was published in the Federal Register on Monday, September 16, 1996 and the statutory response period ends on November 15, 1996.

Foreign-Trade Zone Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Foreign-Trade Zone

A Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) is a site within the United States, in or near a U.S. Customs Port of Entry, where foreign and domestic merchandise is generally considered to be in international commerce (i.e., outside of U.S. Customs territory).

Foreign or domestic merchandise may enter a Foreign-Trade Zone without a formal Customs entry or the payment of Customs duties or government excise taxes. Merchandise entering a Zone may be:

Stored	Displayed	Tested
Sampled	Repaired	Cleaned
Salvaged	Destroyed	Relabeled
Repackaged	Manipulated	Mixed
Processed	Assembled	Manufactured

If the final product is exported, no U.S. Customs duties or excise taxes are levied. If the final product is imported into the United States, Customs duties and excise taxes are due only at the time of transfer from the FTZ. The duties paid are the lower of those applicable to the final product itself or its component parts (inverted tariff option).

Foreign-Trade Subzones may be established to extend FTZ benefits to individual manufacturing firms at their existing plant locations.

The purpose of Foreign-Trade Zones and Subzones is to stimulate international trade and create jobs and investment in the United States rather than abroad.

Considerations for Using a Foreign-Trade Zone or Subzone

A Company should consider the use of Foreign-Trade Zone Status if any of the following conditions exist:

Imported merchandise is subject to U.S. Customs Duty.
Imported merchandise is to be stored for an uncertain period of time.
Imported merchandise needs to be inspected, repaired, destroyed, repackaged, marked, or relabeled before entry into the domestic market or for re-export.
Imported merchandise is subject to U.S. quota restrictions.
Products are assembled, manipulated, processed, or manufactured using imported materials or a combination of imported and domestic materials.
An inverted tariff situation exists for the finished product (i.e., duty rates are higher for imported components of the finished product than they would be for the finished product itself).
All or part of the imported merchandise will be re-exported.
Imported merchandise is commonly displayed to potential buyers prior to purchase.

Advantages of Using a Foreign-Trade Zone or Subzone

For Companies which use imported goods, Foreign-Trade Zone Status may provide some or all of the following benefits:

Cash flow and interest expense savings related to postponement of Customs duty and excise tax payments.
Elimination of Customs duty on items which are re-exported.
Avoidance of Customs drawback process (i.e., applying for a rebate of previously paid Customs duty on foreign-sourced items which are re-exported).
Inverted tariff option (i.e., selecting the lower of the raw material or the finished product duty for foreign-sourced components of goods sold domestically).
Made in U.S.A. marking.
Repair or destruction of defective foreign goods within the Zone.
Expedited Customs clearance.
Better security.
Reduction in insurance, bond, and transportation costs.
Avoidance of quotas (in limited cases).
Exhibition (Trade Mart).

Full Text of the Federal Register Announcement

[Federal Register: September 16, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 180)] [Notices] [Page 48665-48666]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE [Docket 68-96]

Foreign-Trade Zone 121--Albany, New York Area Application for Expansion and Request for Manufacturing Authority (Eyeglass Frames)

An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the Capital District Regional Planning Commission, grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone 121, requesting authority to expand FTZ 121 to include a site at the Crossroads Industrial Park and requesting, on behalf of Liberty Optical Manufacturing Company, authority to manufacture eyeglass frames under zone procedures within FTZ 121, in the Albany, New York area, within the Albany 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 September 3, 1996.

FTZ 121 was approved on July 18, 1985 (Board Order 307, 50 FR 30986, 7/31/85). The zone project currently consists of the following three sites in the Albany, New York area: Site 1: (20 acres, 540,000 sq. ft.)--within the 551-acre Northeastern Industrial Park, Town of Guilderland (Albany County); Site 2: (271,000 sq. ft.)--within the 235-acre Rotterdam Industrial Park, Rotterdam (Schenectady County); and, Site 3: (35 acres, 43,000 sq. ft.)--within the 236-acre Port of Albany, Rensselaer.

The applicant is now requesting authority to expand the general-purpose zone to include a site (Proposed Site 4--12 acres)--located within the 50-acre Crossroads Industrial Park (Lots 4 and 5) in the City of Gloversville (Fulton County), New York, on State Route 29, seven miles from the New York State Thruway. The industrial park is owned by the Fulton County Industrial Development Agency and is part of the Gloversville Economic Development Zone, which provides companies with savings on taxes, jobs, and utilities. The zone will consist of a 41,475 sq. ft. industrial warehouse facility, a 36,000 sq. ft. trailer container storage yard and a 17,015 sq. ft. manufacturing facility operated by the Liberty Optical Manufacturing Company.

The application also requests authority on behalf of Liberty Optical Manufacturing Company to manufacture eyeglass frames under zone procedures within FTZ 121. Liberty Optical's facility (25 employees) within Crossroads Industrial Park is used to assemble frames, grind lens blanks and sun protective lenses. Finished products primarily involve sports and protective/safety eyeglass frames. Materials and components purchased from abroad include temples, fronts, eye frame parts, plastic frames, metal frames, acetate material, polycarbonate shields, hardware (hinges, screws, tips & pads), lenses and eyeglass pouches.

Zone procedures will exempt Liberty Optical from Customs duty payments on the foreign components used in production for export. On domestic sales, the company would be able to choose the duty rate applicable to finished eyeglass frames (4.3%-5.3%) rather than the duty rate (5.3%) that would otherwise be applicable to materials and components. The company is also seeking an exemption from Customs duties on materials that become scrap in the production process (3%). The application indicates that the use of FTZ procedures would help improve the facility's international competitiveness.

In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ Staff has been designated examiner to investigate the application and report to the Board.

Public comment on the application is invited from interested parties. Submissions (original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing period for their receipt is November 15, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to December 2, 1996).

A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

Office of the Port Director, U.S. Customs Service, 445 Broadway, James T. Foley Courthouse Building, Room 216, Albany, New York 12207

Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room

[[Page 48666]]

3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230

Dated: September 6, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr., Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-23649 Filed 9-13-96; 8:45 am]

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