DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 32-84]
49 FR 26771
June 29, 1984
Foreign-Trade Zone 26, Shenandoah, Georgia (Atlanta Port of Entry);
Application for Subzone at Ford's Auto Plant in Hapeville, Georgia
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Georgia Foreign-Trade Zone, Inc., grantee of Foreign-
Trade Zone 26, requesting special-purpose subzone status for Ford Motor
Company's automobile assembly plant in Hapeville, Georgia, within 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 June 18, 1984. The applicant is authorized to make this
proposal under Chapter 10, Title 52 of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated.
The subzone will be located at Ford's Atlanta area auto assembly plant
on a 110-acre site at 340 Henry Ford II Avenue, Hapeville, Fulton County.
Ford is in the process of renovating the plant, which employs 1650 persons,
to produce a new line of front-wheel drive cars. Although most of the parts
and material used at the plant are produced domestically, about 3 percent
of the components such as engines, transaxles and radios are imported.
Zone procedures will exempt Ford from paying duties on foreign
components used for its exports. On its domestic sales, the company will
be able to defer duty and to take advantage of the same duty rate available
to importers of finished autos. The averge duty rate for the foreign
components Ford uses at its Atlanta plant is 4.9 percent whereas the rate
for finished autos is 2.7 perent. The savings from zone procedures are
expected to contribute to Ford's efforts to reduce plant costs, helping to
make it more competitive with auto production facilities offshore.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigate the application and report to the Board. The
committeee consists of: Dennis Puccinelli (Chairman), U.S. Department of
Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; Ralph C. Muser, Acting Deputy Assistant
Regional Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service, Southeast Region, 99 S.E. 5th
street, Miami, FL 33131; and Colonel Daniel W. Christman, District Engineer,
U.S. Army Engineer District Savannah, P.O. Box 889, Savannah, GA 31402.
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, 1984.
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 St., N.E., 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: June 26, 1984.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 84-17433 Filed 6-28-84; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-25-M