DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 40-85]
50 FR 46678
November 12, 1985
Foreign-Trade Zone 105 -- Providence, Rhode Island; Application for Subzone
Stainless Steel Fastener Plant, Pawtucket Fasteners, Pawtucket
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Rhode Island Port Authority and Economic Development
Corporation, grantee for Foreign-Trade Zone 105, requesting special-
purpose subzone status for the stainless steel fastener manufacturing
plant of Pawtucket Fasteners, Inc., Pawtucket, Rhode Island, adjacent to
the Providence 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 23, 1985.
The plant is located at 327 Pine St., Pawtucket. The 2.6-acre facility
has been used to produce stainless steel screws and bolts, employing some
100 persons. In recent years the company has substantially reduced
production, maintaining its sales by importing finished fasteners.
Employment has been reduced to 7 persons. By reducing production costs on
materials, subzone status would encourage the company to reinstate its
production of fasteners in the U.S. It would purchase some 60 to 70 percent
of its stainless steel wire rod and bar from foreign sources, primarily in
France, Taiwan and Japan. Exports would be increased from 2 percent of
sales to up to 7 percent.
Zone procedures would allow Pawtucket Fasteners to avoid duty payment
and quota requirements on the foreign raw material 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 fasteners. The duty rate on
stainless steel wire and bar is about 10.5 percent, whereas the rate for
machine screws is $.0040 per pound and for tapping screws, 7.4 percent.
Duty rates on other fasteners range from 0.7 to 12.5 percent. The savings
would help make the plant more competitive in relation to foreign
producers of fasteners, increasing domestic employment and maintaining
important skills.
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), 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 Thomas A. Rhen, 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
tha ddress below and postmarked on or before December 17, 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 Branch Office,
7 Jackson Walkway,
Providence, RI 02903;
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th and Pennsylvania, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20230.
Dated: November 5, 1985.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 85-26827 Filed 11-8-85; 45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M