Application for Subzone at Xerox Plant in Webster, New York
TEXT: Notice is hereby given that an application has been submitted to the
Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the County of Erie, New York, grantee
of Foreign-Trade Zone 23, requesting authority for a special-purpose subzone at
the photocopier manufacturing plant of Xerox Corporation in Webster, Monroe
County, New York, adjacent to the Rochester 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 March 1, 1983. Both Erie and
Monroe Counties have authority to apply for zones within their jurisdictions
under New York law. Because there is no public zone project in the latter county,
the President of the Monroe County Legislature requested that Erie make the
application. County counsel for Erie issued an opinion that Erie has authority to
apply under these circumstances.
The subzone would cover 102 acres of the Xerox Corporation's 465-acre
photocopier manufacturing plant, located at 800 Phillips Road in the Village of
Webster. The plant employs some 6,400 persons, one-fourth of which are involved
in export-related operations. Although, the plant produces a full range of copiers,
the subzone would be used primarily for production of small ones, for which 90
percent of the parts are imported. Foreign components include power supply and
transformers, clutches, springs, lenses and other specialized copier components.
Zone procedures would exempt Xerox from duty payment on foreign components
used for its exports, which now account for about 20 percent of plant production
and is projected to amount to 40 percent by the end of 1984. On its domestic sales,
the company will be able to take advantage of the same duty rate available to
importers of complete copiers. The average duty rate for the copier parts Xerox
imports is 6.1 percent, whereas the duty rate for complete copiers is 4.5 percent.
This duty differential is one of the factors which is causing the company to consider
importing small copiers rather than producing them domestically. Subzone status,
would rationalize Customs costs, improving the competitiveness of this plant in
relation to copier plants abroad.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an Examiners Committee has been
appointed to investigate the application and report thereon to the Board. The
committee consists of Dennis Puccinelli (Chairman), Foerign-Trade Zones Staff,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; Edward A. Goggin,
Assistant Regional Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service, Northeast Region, 100
Summer Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110; and Colonel Robert R. Hardiman,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineeer District Buffalo, 1776 Niagara Street,
Buffalo, New York 14207.
Comments concerning the proposed zone expansion 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 April 8, 1983.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of the following
locations:
Port Director's Office,
U.S. Customs Service,
100 State Street, Room 611
Rochester, New York 14614
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th and Pennsylvania, NW, Room 1872,
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dated: March 4, 1983.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board.
[FR Doc. 83-5968 Filed 3-8-83; 8:45 am]