Proposed Foreign-Trade ZoneTri-City Area, TN/VA Application for Subzone Status Siemens Industrial Automation Plant (Robotics/ Programmable Logic Controllers) Carter County, TN

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Docket 19-94

Proposed Foreign-Trade Zone--Tri-City Area, TN/VA Application for

Subzone Status Siemens Industrial Automation Plant (Robotics/

Programmable Logic Controllers) Carter County, TN

An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board

(the Board) by the Tri-City Airport Commission, requesting special-

purpose subzone status for the robotics/programmable logic controller

products manufacturing plant of Siemens Industrial Automation, Inc.

(SIA) (subsidiary of Siemens AG), located in Carter County, Tennessee.

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

May 10, 1994. The Tri-City Airport Commission has an application

pending with the Board for authority to establish a general-purpose

zone in the Tri-City area (58 FR 68115, 12-23-93).

The SIA plant (104 acres) is located on Bill Garland Road, Carter

County, Tennessee, some 3 miles southeast of Johnson City. The facility

(620 employees) is used to produce and distribute robotics,

programmable logic controllers and other industrial automation

products, including fiber optic modules and instruments. Components and

materials purchased from abroad account for about 10 percent of

manufacturing material value and include: circuit boards, control

panels, transformers, converters, liquid crystal devices, instruments,

wire, cable connector, laser detectors, batteries, manuals and

software, integrated circuits, diodes, connectors, transistors,

capacitors, resistors power supplies, central processing units,

terminal blocks, modems switches keyboards., monitors, disk drives

printers (duty rate range: free-9.0%). According to company plans, the

facility will be expanded for use as the North American distribution

center for products made by SIA and for products made in the U.S. and

abroad by other Siemens AG affiliates.

Zone procedures would exempt SIA from Customs duty payments on the

foreign components used in export production. On its domestic sales,

the company would be able to choose the duty rates that apply to

finished robotics/programmable logic controllers and related products

(3.9% to 9.0%) for the foreign components noted above. Customs duties

would be deferred on foreign products handled by the planned

distribution center and no duties would be paid if such products are

shipped to foreign markets. The application indicates that the savings

from zone procedures would help improve the SIA plant's international

competitiveness.

In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ

Staff has been appointed examiner to investigate the application and

report to the Board.

Public comment on the application is invited from interested

parties. Submissions (original and three copies) shall be addressed to

the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing

period for their receipt is July 18, 1994. Rebuttal comments in

response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be

submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to August 1, 1994.)

A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be

available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

Office of the District Director, U.S. Customs Service, 150 North Royal,

Mobile, AL 36602.

Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S.

Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th Street & Constitution Avenue,

NW., Washington, DC 20230.

Dated: May 11, 1994.

John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 94-12140 Filed 5-17-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P