NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket 6-91]
Foreign-Trade Zone 127--West
Columbia, SC; Application for Subzone Automotive
Electronic Control Systems Auto Components Plant Anderson, SC
Thursday, February 14, 1991
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the Richland-Lexington Airport District, grantee of FTZ 127,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the automobile electronic
products manufacturing plant of Automobile Electronic Control Systems, Inc.
(AUTECS) (Robert Bosch Corp./Japan Electronic Control Systems Company joint
venture), located in Anderson, South Carolina. 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 January 28, 1991.
The AUTECS plant, established in 1988, is located on South Carolina Highway
81 at Scott's Bridge Road in the city of Anderson, Anderson County, South
Carolina, some 50 miles northwest of Columbia. The facility (12 acres, 112
employees) is used to produce electronic control units for automobile
engines and transmissions and mass air flow meters for auto fuel injection
systems. Currently, some 70 percent of the value of the subcomponents is
sourced abroad, including circuit boards, integrated circuits, capacitors,
resistors, other electronic components, sensors, cables, connectors,
fasteners and casings. The application indicated that AUTECS plans to
increase domestic sourcing by reducing foreign sourcing to 40 percent
within 5 years.
Zone procedures would exempt AUTECS from Customs duty payments on the
foreign material in its exports. On its domestic sales, the company would
be able to choose the finished electronic component rate (4.9%). The duty
rates on the subcomponents range from 0.0 to 10.0 percent, averaging 5.8
percent. If the products are shipped to auto assembly plants with subzone
status, the electronic components could be subject to the auto duty rate
(2.5%). The applicant indicates that the savings will 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 Zone Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; Howard
Cooperman, Regional Director, I & C, U.S. Customs Service, Southwest Region,
909 SE First Avenue, Miami, Florida 33131; and Lt. Colonel James T. Scott,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Charleston, P.O. Box 99,
Charleston, South Carolina 29402.
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 March 28, 1991.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of the
following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce, District Office,
Strom Thurmond Federal Building, suite 172,
1835 Assembly Street,
Columbia, SC 21201.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, room 4213,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: February 5, 1991.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 91-3624 Filed 2-13-91; 8:45 am]