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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 57-97]
Foreign-Trade Zone No. 77--Memphis, TN Area; Application for
Subzone Status; Komatsu America International Company (Construction
Equipment Parts), Ripley, TN
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the City of Memphis, Tennessee, grantee of FTZ 77,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the construction and
mining equipment parts distribution facility of Komatsu America
International Company Inc., located in Ripley, Tennessee. 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 30, 1997.
The Komatsu facility (640,000 sq. ft. on 54 acres) is located on
U.S. Highway 51 at 108 N. Industrial Drive, Ripley, Tennessee, some 50
miles north of Memphis. The facility (330 employees) is used for
storage, inspection, packaging and distribution of a wide variety of
parts and components for construction and mining equipment, such as
engine parts, equipment, vehicle parts, electrical/electronic
components and instruments. About half of the parts are sourced from
abroad and over 25 percent are exported. Plant activity also includes
the occasional packaging or assembly of parts into kits or
subassemblies, but the applicant has indicated that any such activity
conducted under FTZ procedures would not result in a lowering of tariff
rates.
Zone procedures would exempt Komatsu from Customs duty payments on
foreign parts that are reexported. On its domestic sales, the company
would be able to defer duty payments until merchandise is shipped from
the plant. 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 September 8, 1997. Rebuttal comments in
response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be
submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to September 22, 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 & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20230.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, 22 North Front
Street, Suite 200, Memphis, TN 38103.
Dated: July 1, 1997.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-17775 Filed 7-7-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P