Foreign-Trade Zone 78Nashville, TN; Application for Subzone Status; Columbia Specialties, Inc., Plant (Room Air Conditioners/ Dehumidifiers) Columbia, TN

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 33-94]

Foreign-Trade Zone 78--Nashville, TN; Application for Subzone

Status; Columbia Specialties, Inc., Plant (Room Air Conditioners/

Dehumidifiers) Columbia, TN

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

(the Board) by the Metropolitan Nashville Port Authority, grantee of

FTZ 78, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the room air

conditioner and dehumidifier manufacturing plant of Columbia

Specialties, Inc., (CSI) (subsidiary of Fedders North America, Inc.),

located in Columbia, 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 October 28, 1994.

The CSI plant (62 acres/200,000 sq. ft.) is located at 1027

Industrial Park Road, Columbia (Maury County), Tennessee, some 30 miles

south of Nashville. The facility (375 employees) is used to produce

room air conditioners and dehumidifiers (duty rate--2.2%). Materials

and components purchased from abroad (some 15% of total value) include

polymers of styrene, articles of plastic and rubber, fasteners,

articles of copper (bars, rods, profiles, tubes, pipes, fittings),

aluminum foil, taps, cocks, valves, electric motors and switches,

electric heating apparatus, rotary and other compressors and parts,

capacitors, optical fiber cables, and automatic regulating and

controlling apparatus (duty rate range: free--14%, $0.9/kg+9.2%). Some

5 percent of the finished units is exported.

Zone procedures would exempt CSI from Customs duty payments on the

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

CSI would be able to choose the duty rate that applies to finished room

air conditioners and dehumidifiers (2.2%) for the foreign components

noted above. The application indicates that the savings from zone

procedures would help improve the 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 January 9, 1995. Rebuttal comments in

response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be

submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to January 24, 1995).

A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be

available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce District Office, Parkway Towers, Suite 114,

404 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN 37219

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: October 28, 1994.

John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 94-27786 Filed 11-9-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE: 3510-25-P