DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 18-89]
54 FR 41316
October 6, 1989
Foreign-Trade Zone 78 -- Nashville, TN; Application for Subzone:
GM-Saturn Auto Plant, Maury County, TN
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Metropolitan Nashville Port Authority, grantee of FTZ
78, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the automobile
manufacturing plant of Saturn Corporation (subsidiary of General Motors
Corporation), located in Maury County, Tennessee, adjacent to the Nashville
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 September 25, 1989.
The new Saturn plant (1,900 acres) is located on Highway 31, in Maury
County, adjacent to the City of Spring Hill, Tennessee, some 32 miles south
of Nashville. The plant is currently under construction. Production of
automobiles (3,000 employees) is slated to begin in mid-1990. While most
components will come from domestic suppliers, dutiable components from
abroad will account for some 3 percent of vehicle value at the outset. The
major foreign components will be: electronics, wiring harnesses, torque
converters, starters, blocker rings, transmission bearings, timing chains,
levers and instrument clusters.
Zone procedures would exempt Saturn from Customs duty payments on the
foreign components used in its exports. On domestic sales, the company
would be able to choose the duty rate on finished autos (2.5%) for the
foreign-sourced components (average duty rate, 4.1%). The 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; Joel R. Mish,
District Director, U.S. Customs Service, South Central Region, 423 Canal
Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130; and, Colonel James T. King, District
Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Nashville, P.O. Box 1070, Nashville,
Tennessee 37202-1070.
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 November 17,
1989.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce District Office,
Parkway Towers, Suite 1114,
404 James Robertson Parkway,
Nashville, TN 37219;
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2835,
14th & Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: September 29, 1989.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 89-23641 Filed 10-5-89; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M