DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 7-81]
46 FR 34613
July 2, 1981
Foreign-Trade Zone No. 55, Burlington, Vermont; Application for Special-
Purpose Subzone
TEXT: Notice is hereby given that an application has been submitted to the
Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the Greater Burlington Industrial
Corporation (GBIC), grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone No. 55, requesting
authority to establish a special-purpose subzone for a garment
manufacturing plant in St. Albans, Vermont, within the St. Albans Customs
port of entry. The application was submitted pursuant to the provisions of
the Foreign-Trade Zone Act of 1934, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u), and the
regulations of the Board (15 CFR Part 400). It was formally filed on
June 25, 1981.
The Board authorized GBIC to establish a general-purpose zone on
February 14, 1980 to serve the Greater Burlington area. It became
operational in mid-1980. GBIC was created in 1954 as a nonprofit
development corporation to encourage and coordinate regional public and
private industrial development efforts. It is authorized to make this
proposal under Section 4122, Chapter 111, Title 9 of the Vermont State
Acts, effective March 3, 1976.
The applicant proposes to establish a subzone for the St. Albans plant
of Pedigree USA, Inc., located at a 3.4-acre facility on St. Albans Town
Highway at Highway Road. Pedigree is currently using a 17,400 square foot
building on the site to store, repack, inspect and distribute ski wear
produced in the Far East. Zone status would prompt the company to use the
plant for ornamenting, finishing and other manufacturing operations now
performed abroad by foreign contractors, and for international distribution
currently handled by a Canadian plant. Plans call for a 40,000 square foot
plant expansion to accommodate the additional operations.
Zone procedures will allow Pedigree to defer duty on inventory which it
must hold for seasonal sales, while encouraging the company to process and
store the garments domestically. Pedigree indicates that the duty savings
are critical to its decision to shift manufacturing and distribution
operations to the U.S. from abroad. The move could increase employment at
the St. Albans plant by as much as 79 percent (65 persons) over the next
four years, while increasing U.S. exports and reducing the value of imports.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigate the application and report to the Board. The
committee consists of Dennis M. Puccinelli (Chairman), International Trade
Specialist, Foreign-Trade Zones Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce,
Washington, D.C. 20230; Edward A. Goggin, Assistant Regional Commissioner
(Operations), U.S. Customs Service, Region I, 100 Summer Street, Boston,
Massachusetts 02110; and Colonel C. Ernest Edgar III, Division Engineer,
U.S. Army Engineer Division New England, 424 Trapelo Road, Waltham,
Massachusetts 02154.
Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested persons and organizations. They should be addressed to the
Board's Executive Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or
before July 31, 1981.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each
of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce District Office,
Room 610-B, Federal Office Building,
450 Main Street,
Hartford, Connecticut 06103
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th and E Streets, N.W., Room 2006,
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dated: June 29, 1981.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board.
[FR Doc. 81-19391 Filed 7-1-81; 8:45 am]