Foreign-Trade Zone 98Birmingham, AL; Application for Subzone, Mercedes-Benz Project, Inc., Plant (Multi-Purpose Vehicles), Tuscaloosa, Alabama

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 6-95]

Foreign-Trade Zone 98--Birmingham, AL; Application for Subzone,

Mercedes-Benz Project, Inc., Plant (Multi-Purpose Vehicles),

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

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

(the Board) by the City of Birmingham, Alabama, grantee of FTZ 98,

requesting special-purpose subzone status for the vehicle manufacturing

plant of the Mercedes-Benz Project, Inc. (MBPI) (subsidiary of Daimler-

Benz AG, Germany), located in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. 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 February 16,

1995.

The new Mercedes-Benz plant is located at the juncture of

Interstate Highway 20/59, Will Walker Road, and U.S. Highway 11, about

10 miles east of the City of Tuscaloosa. The facility (900 acres, 1.67

million sq. ft.), currently under construction, will employ some 1,500

workers to produce up to 80,000 multi-purpose passenger vehicles

annually. The application indicates that foreign-sourced parts and

materials may represent up to 50 percent of the finished vehicles'

material value, including: paint, hydraulic fluids, antifreeze, tires,

brake components, mirrors, glass items, items of plastic/rubber, steel

tubes/pipes/profiles and wire/cables, articles of aluminum, wiring

harnesses, electrical switches, fasteners, steel springs, engines and

transmissions (and parts), axles, parts of base metal, pumps, air

conditioners, taps/cocks/valves, electric motors, batteries, bearings,

lamps, audio equipment, radar detectors, vehicle bodies, fuel tanks,

sunroofs, bumpers, electronic gauges, regulators, and instruments (duty

rate range: 2.5-13.6%). The finished vehicles would be sold in the U.S.

and exported.

Zone procedures would exempt MBPI from Customs duty payments on the

foreign items used in production for export. On domestic sales, the

company would be able to choose the duty rate that applies to finished

passenger vehicles (2.5%) for the foreign material inputs 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 May 1, 1995. Rebuttal comments in response

to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted

during the subsequent 15-day period (to May 15, 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, Medical Forum Building,

7th Floor, 950 22nd Street North, Birmingham, AL 35203.

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: February 21, 1995.

John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 95-5052 Filed 2-28-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P