Enforcement and Compliance

FTZ Staff Contact Information

last update: September 2002

  

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket 68-96]

Foreign-Trade Zone 121--Albany, New York Area Application for
Expansion and Request for Manufacturing Authority (Eyeglass Frames)

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Capital District Regional Planning Commission,
grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone 121, requesting authority to expand FTZ
121 to include a site at the Crossroads Industrial Park and requesting,
on behalf of Liberty Optical Manufacturing Company, authority to
manufacture eyeglass frames under zone procedures within FTZ 121, in
the Albany, New York area, within the Albany 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 September 3,
1996.

    FTZ 121 was approved on July 18, 1985 (Board Order 307, 50 FR
30986, 7/31/85). The zone project currently consists of the following
three sites in the Albany, New York area: Site 1: (20 acres, 540,000
sq. ft.)--within the 551-acre Northeastern Industrial Park, Town of
Guilderland (Albany County); Site 2: (271,000 sq. ft.)--within the 235-
acre Rotterdam Industrial Park, Rotterdam (Schenectady County); and,
Site 3: (35 acres, 43,000 sq. ft.)--within the 236-acre Port of Albany,
Rensselaer.

    The applicant is now requesting authority to expand the general-
purpose zone to include a site (Proposed Site 4--12 acres)--located
within the 50-acre Crossroads Industrial Park (Lots 4 and 5) in the
City of Gloversville (Fulton County), New York, on State Route 29,
seven miles from the New York State Thruway. The industrial park is
owned by the Fulton County Industrial Development Agency and is part of
the Gloversville Economic Development Zone, which provides companies
with savings on taxes, jobs, and utilities. The zone will consist of a
41,475 sq. ft. industrial warehouse facility, a 36,000 sq. ft. trailer
container storage yard and a 17,015 sq. ft. manufacturing facility
operated by the Liberty Optical Manufacturing Company.

    The application also requests authority on behalf of Liberty
Optical Manufacturing Company to manufacture eyeglass frames under zone
procedures within FTZ 121. Liberty Optical's facility (25 employees)
within Crossroads Industrial Park is used to assemble frames, grind
lens blanks and sun protective lenses. Finished products primarily
involve sports and protective/safety eyeglass frames. Materials and
components purchased from abroad include temples, fronts, eye frame
parts, plastic frames, metal frames, acetate material, polycarbonate
shields, hardware (hinges, screws, tips & pads), lenses and eyeglass
pouches.

    Zone procedures will exempt Liberty Optical from Customs duty
payments on the foreign components used in production for export. On
domestic sales, the company would be able to choose the duty rate
applicable to finished eyeglass frames (4.3%-5.3%) rather than the duty
rate (5.3%) that would otherwise be applicable to materials and
components. The company is also seeking an exemption from Customs
duties on materials that become scrap in the production process (3%).
The application indicates that the use of FTZ procedures would help
improve the facility'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 3 copies) shall be addressed to the
Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing period
for their receipt is November 15, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response
to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted
during the subsequent 15-day period (to December 2, 1996).

    A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

Office of the Port Director, U.S. Customs Service, 445 Broadway, James
T. Foley Courthouse Building, Room 216, Albany, New York 12207
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: September 6, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-23649 Filed 9-13-96; 8:45 am]