DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 49-83]
48 FR 57346
December 29, 1983
Foreign-Trade Zone 77, Memphis, Tennessee; Application for Subzone at Sharp
Microwave Oven and Television Plant, Memphis, Tennessee
TEXT: Notice is hereby given that an application has been submitted to the
Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the City of Memphis, Tennessee,
grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone 77, requesting special-purpose subzone status
for the microwave oven and television manufacturing plant of Sharp
Manufacturing Company of America, Memphis Tennessee, adjacent to the Memphis
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 December 15, 1983. The applicant is authorized to make this proposal
under section 7-5-107(6), Tennessee Code Annotated.
On April 2, 1982, the Board authorized the City to establish a
foreign-trade zone project in the Memphis port of entry area (Board Order
189, 47 FR 16191, 4/15/82). The project involves a site covering 22 acres
at the President's Island industrial park complex and one covering 10 acres
at Memphis International Airport.
The proposed subzone is located at Sharp's manufacturing plant covering
40 acres at Raines and Mendenhall Roads, and includes a company warehousing
facility covering 125,000 square feet at 4237 Concorde Street in the Airport
Industrial Park. Opened in 1979, the facility produces a full line of
microwave ovens and color televisions. Although over 60 percent of the
parts and material for the ovens and televisions are purchased from domestic
sources, certain components are sourced abroad, such as control panels,
magnetron tubes and carousel assemblies for the ovens; and circuit boards,
tuners, yokes and speakers for the televisions.
Zone procedures would allow Sharp to export finished televisions and
microwave ovens without paying duties on foreign parts and material. On its
domestic sales, the company can defer duty payments, and take advantage of
the same duty rates that are available to importers of the finished
products. The duty rate for televisions is 5 percent, and for microwave
ovens, 4 percent. On the imported television and oven parts used by Sharp,
the weighted average duty rates are 6.1 and 6.5 percent respectively. The
applicant indicates a willingness to accept the same restriction on foreign
color picture tubes as applied to Subzone 14A for Sanyo Manufacturing
Corporation (Board Order 201, 47 FR 44593, October 8, 1982). The application
indicates that zone procedures will encourage Sharp to expand operations in
Tennessee rather than abroad, adding up to 125 workers in 1984 to the
plant's current labor force of 740.
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; Max G. Willis,
District Director, U.S. Customs Service, South Central Region, Room 244,
423 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130; and Colonel John F. Hatch, Jr.,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Memphis, B-314 Clifford Davis
Federal Building, Memphis, TN 38103.
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 January 27, 1984.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
U.S. Dept. of Commerce District Office,
3693 Central Avenue,
Memphis, TN 38111
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: December 22, 1983.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 83-34508 Filed 12-28-83; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M