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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 31-96]
Foreign-Trade Zone 98--Birmingham, AL; Application for Subzone
Status, ZF Industries, Inc. (Automotive Axle Assemblies), Tuscaloosa,
Alabama
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the City of Birmingham, Alabama, grantee of FTZ 98,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the automotive axle
assembly manufacturing plant of ZF Industries, Inc. (ZF) (subsidiary of
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Germany), located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 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 April 16, 1996.
The new ZF plant (34 acres, 83,000 sq.ft.), currently under
construction, is located at 1200 Commerce Drive within the Tuscaloosa
County Airport Industrial Park, about 4 miles west of the City of
Tuscaloosa. The facility (200 employees) will be used to produce front
and rear axle assemblies for passenger vehicles manufactured at the
Mercedes-Benz motor vehicle assembly plant in Tuscaloosa County, as
well as for export. The application indicates that, at the outset,
foreign-sourced parts and materials will comprise some 25 percent of
the finished axle assemblies' material value, including: pinion sets,
steering gears, tie rods, parking brake cables, and fasteners (duty
rate range: 2.9-12.5%). Foreign (non-North American) parts and
materials purchases are projected to decline to about 14 percent of the
total in the medium term.
Zone procedures would exempt ZF from Customs duty payments on the
foreign items used in production for export. On domestic shipments
transferred in-bond to the Mercedes-Benz plant (Subzone 98A, Board
Order 803, 61 FR 8237, 3-4-96), no duties would be paid on foreign-
origin components of the axle assemblies until Mercedes enters the
finished motor vehicles for domestic consumption, at which time,
Mercedes could choose to apply the finished auto duty rate (2.5%).
Mercedes would pay no duties on its exports. For axle assemblies
withdrawn for Customs entry, the company would be able to choose the
axle duty rate (2.9%) for the foreign-origin fasteners noted above. The
application indicates that the savings from zone procedures would help
improve the plant's international competitiveness.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ
Staff has been designated examiner to investigate the application and
report to the Board.
Public comment on the application is invited from interested
parties. Submissions (original and three copies) shall be addressed to
the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing
period for their receipt is June 24, 1996. Rebuttal comments in
response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be
submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to July 9, 1996).
A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce District Office, Medical Forum Building,
7th Floor, 950 22nd Street North, Birmingham, AL 35203.
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th Street & Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: April 17, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-10110 Filed 4-25-96; 8:45 am]