DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 22-82]
47 FR 44128
October 6, 1982
Foreign-Trade Zone 70, Detroit; Application for Subzone at Ford Auto Plant,
Wixom, Michigan
TEXT: Notice is hereby given that an application has been submitted to the
Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the Greater Detroit Foreign-Trade
Zone, Inc. (GDFTZ), a Michigan non-profit corporation and grantee of
Foreign-Trade Zone 70, requesting authority for a special-purpose subzone
at a Ford Motor Corporation auto assembly plant in Wixom, Michigan,
adjacent to the Detroit 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 24, 1982. The applicant is
authorized to make this proposal under Chapter 447, Act 154, Michigan
Public Acts of 1963 (MSA 21.302 (1)).
On July 21, 1981, the Board authorized GDFTZ to establish a foreign-
trade zone project in the Detroit area (Board Order 176, 46 FR 38941,
July 30, 1981). General-purpose zone facilities are located at the Clark
Street Port facility in downtown Detroit and at a distribution complex in
Dearborn. The project also includes subzones at Ford's tractor plant in
Romeo, Michigan, and at Chrysler's Jefferson Assembly Plant in Detroit. An
application is pending for a subzone at Ford's Wayne Assembly Plant (47
FR 38568, September 1, 1982).
GDFTZ now requests subzone status for Ford's Wixom Assembly Plant,
located at 500 Grand River Expressway, Wixom, Michigan. The recently
renovated 320-acre facility produces some 77,000 of the company's new,
lighter Lincoln model automobiles annually. Some foreign parts will be
used, primarily diesel engines, electronic components and wheels.
Zone procedures will allow Ford to export finished autos without paying
duties on foreign parts and material. On its domestic sales, the company
will be able to take advantage of the same duty rate available to
importers of finished automobiles, which is lower than the rate for the
components it plans to import. This flexibility will help make this plant
competitive with offshore assembly plants encouraging the full utilization
of the Wixom plant. Ford expects to add over 3,000 jobs to the current
workforce of 2,750 persons.
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 Puccinelli (Chairman), Foreign-Trade Zones
Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; Louis A.
Mezzano, District Director, U.S. Customs Service, Region IX, 477 MIchigan
Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48226; and Colonel Raymond T. Beurket, District
Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Detroit, P.O. Box 1027, Detroit,
Michigan 48231.
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 October 29, 1982.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce,
District Office,
Federal Building, Room 445,
231 West Lafayette Street,
Detroit, Michigan 48226
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th and Pennsylvania, Room 1519,
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dated: September 21, 1982.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board.
[FR Doc. 82-27476 Filed 10-5-82; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-25-M