DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 37-90]
55 FR 35915
September 4, 1990
Foreign-Trade Zone 145 -- Shreveport, LA (Shreveport-Bossier City Customs
Port of Entry), Application for Subzone, AT&T Telephone and Computer
Equipment Plant, Shreveport, LA
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Caddo/Bossier Parishes Port Commission, grantee of FTZ
145, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company's (AT&T) manufacturing and distribution facility
located in Shreveport, Louisiana, adjacent to the Shreveport-Bossier City
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 August 23, 1990.
AT&T's Shreveport plant (2,400 employees) is currently part of FTZ 145
(Board Order 370, 53 F.R. 1503, 1/20/88), but no approval has yet been
given for manufacturing activity. The company is now planning major
manufacturing operations under zone procedures, and after discussions with
District Customs officials, it has been decided that subzone status would
be more suitable.
The facility is on a 156-acre site located at 9595 Mansfield Road (U.S.
Highway 171) in southwest Shreveport. It is the company's only U.S. facility
for the manufacture of telephone systems for small and large businesses and
related equipment. In addition, company plans call for the manufacture of
computer equipment, facsimile machines and clock radios. Some of the
plant's inputs are foreign-sourced including electronic components such as
capacitors, diodes, resistors, transistors, integrated circuits, printed
circuit boards, power supplies, switches and connectors; parts of
telephones such as microphones, ringers and keypads; and parts of computer
and facsimile equipment such as the printed circuit boards, power supplies,
cathode ray tubes, disk drives, keyboards; and, a variety of hardware and
fasteners.
Zone procedures would exempt AT&T from Customs duty payments on foreign
items used in its exports. On its domestic sales the company would be able
to pay duties at the rate applicable to finished products and components
(3.7 to 8.5%). The duty rates on the parts and materials used in production
range from 0 percent to 10 percent. The application indicates that zone
procedures will help improve AT&T'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, suite 244, New Orleans, LA 70130; and Colonel Francis R. Skidmore,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District, Vicksburg, P.O. Box 60,
Vicksburg, MS 39181-0060.
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 October 24, 1990.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
U.S. Customs Service,
Port Director's Office,
6125 Interstate Drive, Bay 11,
Shreveport, Louisiana 71109.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, room 2835,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: August 27, 1990.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 90-20701 Filed 8-31-90; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M