NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(Docket 9-93)
Proposed Foreign-Trade Subzone; GE Aerospace Simulation/Testing/Control
Systems
Plant; Daytona Beach, FL
Friday, March 26, 1993
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the County of Volusia, Florida, requesting special-purpose
subzone status for the aerospace simulation/ testing/control systems
manufacturing plant of GE Aerospace Daytona (a department of the Aerospace
Group, General Electric Company) located in Daytona Beach, Florida. The
County of Volusia has an application pending with the Board for a general-
purpose foreign-trade zone at sites in Volusia and Flagler Counties,
Florida (FTZ Doc. 4-93, 58 FR 8930, filed 2-12-93). The subzone 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 March 18, 1993.
The GE plant (24 acres) is located at 1800 Volusia Avenue (U.S. 92) in
Daytona Beach, Florida. The facility employs 1,086 employees and is used to
produce automated testing equipment, visual simulation products, and
automated digital control systems. The plant's primary products currently
include avionics testing modules, flight simulators, ship and tank
trainers, and vessel system controls. While these products have been
developed primarily for defense applications, the company plans to produce
similar items suitable for industrial and commercial uses. Some 10 percent
of the components and material inputs are sourced from abroad, including
fabricated structures, electric motors, generators, generating sets and
parts, automated data processing machines, magnets and batteries,
electrical apparatus for line telephony, headphones and parts, recording
media, transmission apparatus, electrical capacitors and resistors, printed
circuits, cathode ray tubes, diodes and transistors, insulators and
fittings, lenses and mirrors, lenses for projection, test instruments,
oscilloscopes, analyzers, and measuring and checking instruments.
Currently, over 40 percent of the finished equipment is exported.
Zone procedures would exempt GE Aerospace Daytona from Customs duty
payments on the foreign components used in its exports. On domestic sales,
the company would be able to choose the duty rates that apply to the
finished equipment (duty-free to 4.9%). Equipment sold to the U.S.
Department of Defense (DOD), would be eligible for duty-free treatment
under the provisions of Harmonized Tariff System Chapter 98, Subchapter
VIII. The duty rates on most components range from duty-free to 10%. The
application indicates that the savings from zone procedures would help
improve the company's international competitiveness.
In accordance with the Board's regulations (as revised, 56 FR 50790-50808,
10- 8-91), a member of the FTZ Staff has been designated examiner to
investigate the application and report to the Board.
Public comment is invited from interested parties. Submissions (original
and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive Secretary at the
address below. The closing period for their receipt is May 25, 1993.
Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing
period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period to June 9, 1993.
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available for
public inspection at each of the following locations:
County of Volusia, Growth Management Department,
123 West Indiana Avenue,
DeLand, Florida 32720-4604.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board, room 3716,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: March 19, 1993.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
(FR Doc. 93-6932 Filed 3-25-93; 8:45 am)