DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 28-83]
48 FR 37503
August 18, 1983
Foreign-Trade Zone 26, Shenandoah County, Georgia; Application for Subzone
for Goetze Gasket Company, La Grange, Georgia
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Georgia Foreign Trade Zone, Inc. (FGTZ), grantee of
Foreign-Trade Zone 26, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the
gasket manufacturing facility of Goetze Gasket Company, La Grange, Georgia,
some 45 miles from the Atlanta 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 July 27, 1983. The applicant is authorized
to make this proposal under Section 98-301 through 98-304 of the Georgia
Code Annotated. The question of "adjacency" is being reviewed by the
Customs Service.
On January 17, 1977, the Board authorized GFTZ to establish a foreign-
trade zone project in the Atlanta area (Board Order 115, 42 FR 4186,
1/24/77). The project covers 33 acres in an industrial park in Coweta
County, near Atlanta. It handled some $27 million in merchandise in FY
1982. GFTZ has also sponsored a subzone for the Atlanta area auto assembly
plants of General Motors (Board Order 218, signed 7/13/83).
The proposed subzone will involve Goetze's existing facility covering
38 acres within the La Grange Industrial Park, La Grange, Georgia. The
plant is a custom-built facility for the special handling of certain
chemicals and materials. The facility produces specialized cylinder head
gaskets, called the Astadur head gasket, for high performance passenger
car engines. The company imports the primary raw materials used in the
production process -- astaband, ironal and polybutadiene -- the first two
of which are not available domestically with specifications meeting
Goetze's requirements. Subzone status is being requested because Goetze
plans to export up to 30 percent of its output to Japan by 1985.
Zone procedures will exempt Goetze from duty payments on exports and on
the scrap generated in the production process from foreign materials, which
exceeds 60 percent on astaband and ironal. Drawback procedures allow the
company to recover only a fraction of its duty costs upon reexport,
because of scrap. On its domestic sales, the company will be exempt from
duty on scrap, and will be able to take advantage of the same duty rate
available to importers of finished gaskets, which is 3.7 percent compared
with rates of 5.0 to 11.1 percent on the imported material. These savings
would help the plant compete in the international marketplace, encouraging
exports and employment.
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 Zone
Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; Charles W.
Winwood (Inspection and Control). U.S. Customs Service, Southeast Region,
99 SE 5th Street, Miami, FL 33131; and Colonel Patrick J. Kelly, District
Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Mobile, P.O. Box 2288, Mobile, AL
36628.
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 September 26, 1983.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
U.S. Dept. of Commerce District Office,
1365 Peachtree Street, NE., Suite 600,
Atlanta, GA 30309
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1872,
14th and Pennsylvania, NW.,
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dated: August 11, 1983.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 83-22758 Filed 8-17-83; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-25-M