U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
FOREIGN-TRADE ZONES BOARD
(Docket 29-97)
Application for Subzone Status
Conair Corporation Plant
(Small Appliances, Beauty Care Products, Personal Telephones)
East Windsor, New Jersey
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by Mercer County, grantee of FTZ 200, requesting subzone status
for the warehousing/distribution and repair facility of Conair Corporation
(Conair), East Windsor, New Jersey. 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 11, 1997.
The Conair facility (500,000 sq. ft. on 52-acres) is located at 150
Milford Road in East Windsor, New Jersey. Operations conducted under FTZ
procedures at the facility will include warehousing/distribution, testing,
repackaging, and service/repair of a variety of consumer products, and in
some cases this activity will involve reassembly and a change in Customs
classification of incoming foreign components. Finished products include:
electric personal care appliances (e.g., hair dryers/trimmers, massagers,
heating pads, toothbrushes); beauty care products; small kitchen appliances/
cookware, (e.g., food processors/mixers/grinders, pasta makers, toasters,
blenders, coffee/espresso makers); and consumer telephones and answering
machines. Foreign components that would be used in reassembly/service
activity include: plastic handles and knobs, fasteners, knives, fans,
electric motors, generators, transformers, telephone components,
microphones, loudspeakers, earphones, resistors, printed circuits,
switches, diodes, integrated circuits, conductors, insulators, and timing
devices.
Zone procedures will exempt Conair from Customs duty payments on the
foreign items used in its exports. On its domestic sales, the company will
be able to defer Customs duty payments, and, on the service/repair activity
that involves the use of foreign components, the company will be able to
choose the lower Customs duty rates that might apply to finished products
(range: duty-free - 8.5%). The rates on the foreign parts used at the
facility range from duty-free to 12.5 percent. The applicant indicates
that zone procedures will help improve the international competitiveness of
the company's U.S. operations.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ
staff has been appointed 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
[60 days from date of publication]. Rebuttal comments in response to
material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during the
subsequent 15-day period (to [75 days from date of publication]).
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center
3131 Princeton Pike, Building 6, Suite 100
Trenton, New Jersey 08648
Office of the Executive Secretary
Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 3716
U.S. Department of Commerce
14th & Pennsylvania Aves., NW
Washington, DC 20230
Dated:
______________________________
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.
Executive Secretary