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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 53-97]
Foreign-Trade Zone 49--Newark/Elizabeth, New Jersey Area;
Application For Foreign-Trade Subzone Status; Hewlett-Packard Company
(Computer and Related Electronic Products), Bridgewater and Washington,
NJ
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, grantee
of FTZ 49, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the
manufacturing and distribution facilities (computers, printers,
measurement devices, medical products and related products) of the
Hewlett-Packard Company (Hewlett-Packard), located in Bridgewater and
Washington, New Jersey. The application was submitted pursuant to 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
June 19, 1997.
The Hewlett-Packard facilities are located at two sites totaling
60.8 acres (570,498 square feet) in north central New Jersey: Site 1
(43.6 acres, 388,920 sq.ft.)--located at 1120 Route 22 East,
Bridgewater area, Bridgewater Township (Somerset County), some 28 miles
southeast of Newark; Site 2 (17.2 acres, 181,578 sq.ft.)--located at
2010 Route 57W, Washington area, Franklin Township (Warren County),
some 45 miles east of Newark.
The facilities (321 employees) are used for storage, manufacture,
and distribution for import and export of computers and related
devices, printers, electronic test and measurement devices, electronic
medical products, and related electronic products and components. A
number of components are purchased from abroad (an estimated 40% of
value on manufactured products), including printed circuit boards,
silicon wafers, rectifiers, integrated circuits, memory modules, CD-ROM
drives, disk drives, scanners, hard drives, keyboards, monitors/
displays (CRT and LCD type), LEDs, speakers, microphones, belts,
valves, bearings, plastic materials, industrial chemicals, sensors,
filters, resistors, transducers, fuses, plugs, relays, ink cartridges,
toner cartridges, switches, fasteners, cards, transformers, DC/electric
motors, magnets, modems, batteries, cabinets, power supplies, cables,
copper wire, power cords, optical fiber, casters, cases, labels, and
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packaging materials (1997 duty range: free-14.2%).
Zone procedures would exempt Hewlett-Packard from Customs duty
payments on foreign components used in export production. On its
domestic sales, Hewlett-Packard would be able to choose the lower duty
rate that applies to the finished products (free-13.2%) for the foreign
components 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 August 29, 1997. Rebuttal comments in
response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be
submitted during the subsequent 15-day period to September 15, 1997.
A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center, 9th Floor, 7-45
Raymond Plaza, W., Newark, New Jersey 07102
Dated: June 20, 1997.
John J. DaPonte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-17055 Filed 6-27-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P