DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 38-85]
50 FR 45446
October 31, 1985
Foreign-Trade Zone 27 -- Boston, MA; Application for Subzone; General
Motors Auto Plant, Framingham
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Massachusetts Port Authority, grantee of Foreign-Trade
Zone 27, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the auto manufacturing
plant of General Motors Corporation in Framingham, Massachusetts, within
the Boston 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 October 21, 1985.
The plant is located at 63 Western Avenue, Framingham. The 166-acre
facility is used to produce Chevrolet Celebrity and Oldsmobile Cutlass
model automobiles. About 7 percent of the parts used at the plant are
dutiable, including engines, seat covers, solenoids, and wiring harnesses.
Some 14 percent of the finished autos are exported.
Zone procedures would allow GM to avoid duty payments on the foreign
parts used in its exports. On its domestic sales, the company would be able
to take advantage of the same duty rate available to importers of finished
autos, which is 2.6 percent, whereas the duty rate for the components used
at the plant averaged 4.2 percent. These savings would contribute to the
company's overall cost reduction program, helping it to become more
competitive with auto plants abroad.
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; Edward A.
Goggin, Assistant Regional Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service, Northeast
Region, 100 Summer St., Boston, MA 02110; and Colonel Carl B. Sciple,
Division Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer Division New England, 424 Trapelo
Rd., Waltham, MA 02254.
Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested parties. They should be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before December 2, 1985.
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available
during this time for public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce District Office,
441 Stuart St., 10th Floor,
Boston, MA 02116
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th and Pennsylvania, NW.,
Washington, D.C. 20230.
Dated: October 28, 1985.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 85-25994 Filed 10-30-85; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M