DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 38-88]
53 FR 50054
December 13, 1988
Foreign-Trade Zone 49 -- Newark/Elizabeth, NJ; Application for Subzone
Squibb Pharmaceutical Plant, New Brunswick, NJ
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, grantee of
Foreign-Trade Zone 49, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the
pharmaceutical plant of E.R. Squibb & Sons, Inc. (Squibb), in New Brunswick,
New Jersey. 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
November 28, 1988.
The Squibb plant (96 acres) is located in the City of New Brunswick at
1 Squibb Drive. (A portion of the facilities are in the adjoining Township
of North Brunswick.) The facility employs some 2,500 persons and is used
to produce a number of therapeutic and diagnostic pharmaceutical products
such as antibiotics, antiflammatory compounds, hormonal products and
cardiovascular products. About one-half of the finished products made at
the plant use foreign-sourced materials, and the amount of foreign
materials used in these products ranges from 0 to 90 percent, averaging
about 45 percent. The ingredients and materials sourced abroad include
diatrizoic acid, meglumin, procainamide, iodamide, iopamidol, mebrofenen,
and tetracycline. The company also imports insulia in finished form. Some
of the products are exported.
Zone procedures would exempt Squibb from Customs duty payments on
foreign materials used in its exports. On its domestic sales, the company
will be able to choose the same duty rate that applies to finished
pharmaceutical products. The application indicates that, under the present
tariff system, most of the finished products made at the plant are subject
to 3.7 percent duty rate, whereas the rates on the ingredients used in the
production of those products range from 5.3 to 13.5 percent.
The applicant states that the Harmonized Tariff System, which goes into
effect on January 1, 1989, will reduce the magnitude of duty differentials,
but the significant tariff inversions will remain.
The application indicates that zone savings would help improve the
plant's international competitiveness.
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, DC 20230; Peter J. Baish,
Area Director, U.S. Customs Service, New York Region, Airport International
Plaza, Room 210A, Newark, New Jersey 07114; and Colonel Marion C. Caldwell,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer Division New York, 26 Federal Plaza,
New York, New York 10278-0090.
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 January 24,
1989.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
Area Director's Office, U.S. Customs Service,
Airport International Plaza, Room 210A,
Newark, New Jersey 07114
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2835,
14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washiongton, DC 20230.
Dated: December 7, 1988.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 88-28554 Filed 12-12-88; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M