DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 29-89]
54 FR 48793
November 27, 1989
Foreign-Trade Zone 27 -- Boston, MA; Application for Subzone Sites,
Polaroid Corporation, Massachusetts
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), grantee of FTZ
15, requesting special-purpose subzone status for seven Polaroid Corporation
production facilities in Massachusetts. 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 8, 1989.
Polaroid Corporation is an international producer and distributor of
instant photographic cameras, film, photographic supplies and electronic
imaging/recording devices. It has plants in the United States, Netherlands,
United Kingdom, and Mexico, and has annual sales of some $1.8 billion.
The proposed sites include most of the company's production, packaging,
warehouse/distribution, and research facilities (12,000 employees) in the
Boston and New Bedford areas: (1) Norwood Plant (224 acres), 1 Upland Road,
Norwood; (2) Needham Plant (36 acres), Needham Industrial Park, Needham;
(3) New Bedford Plant (126 acres), 100 Duchaine Blvd., New Bedford; (4)
Waltham Plant (212 acres -- 3 sites), 868 Winter Street., 1265 Main St.,
and 103 Fourth St., Waltham; (5) Freetown Plant (171 acres), 238 Main St.,
Assonet; (6) Boston Plant (.5 acres), 716 Columbus Ave., Boston; and (7)
Cambridge Plant (Corporate headquarters (22 acres), Main & Osborne Sts.,
Cambridge.
The Polaroid facilities are primarily engaged in the production and
distribution of cameras and related equipment, film, photographic
chemicals, and information recording devices. Foreign materials account
for some 50 percent of the value of the finished products. For cameras,
foreign materials include camera bodies, circuit boards, capacitors,
motors, lens and miscellaneous camera parts. For film, the foreign
materials involve a variety of chemicals including PSD 15 dye,
hexadecylsalfanimido indole, acetates, toluenes, and alcohol and benzene
compounds. For the electronic recording devices, the foreign components
include capacitors, resistors and transformers.
Zone procedures would exempt Poloraoid from Customs duty payment of the
foreign materials used in its exports. On its domestic sales, it would be
able to choose the duty rates that apply to finished products (cameras --
3.0%; film -- 3.9%; electronic imaging equipment -- 4.2%). The duty rates
on the foreign camera materials range from 2.8 to 10.0 percent, the rates
on the foreign chemicals used in film production range from 3.8 to 20
percent, and the rates on the foreign components used in electronic device
production range from 6.0 to 10.0 percent. The application indicates that
the savings from zone procedures will help improve the international
competitiveness of the company's U.S. plants.
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; Edward A. Goggin,
Assistant Regional Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service, Northeast Region,
10 Causeway Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02222-1056; and, Colonel Daniel
M. Wilson, Division Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer Division New England,
424 Trapelo Road, Waltham, Massachusetts 02254-9149.
Comments concerning the proposed foreign-trade subzone are invited in
writing from interested parties. The shall be addressed to the Board's
Executive Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before
January 7, 1990.
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available
for public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce, District Office,
World Trade Center, Suite 307,
Commonwealth Pier Area,
Boston, Massachusetts 02210.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2835,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: November 17, 1989.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 89-27637 Filed 11-24-89; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M