October 2, 2009

FTZ Board Grantee Update

This second e-mail update to grantees on key developments in the FTZ program focuses on three topics:

- Time to start preparing 2009 Annual Reports

- Modified approach for ASF Service Area concurrence letters

- Details on FTZ Staff Regional Representatives

FIRST, the 2009 fiscal year ended on September 30, so it’s not too soon to remind your operators that they’ll need to begin preparing their FY 2009 annual reports for you to incorporate into your report to the FTZ Board (due January 31, 2010). Note that although we currently have some proposed annual report format revisions out for public comment, your FY 2009 reports are unaffected. Possible format revisions are not close to being finalized and would only be effective for future years.

SECOND, feedback from grantees and recent experience has led our office to partially rethink our approach for the standard Alternative Site Framework (ASF) Service Area concurrence letter to come from each participating county (or other jurisdiction, if appropriate). However, grantees that have signed or pending Service Area concurrence letters do not need to re-visit those letters due to the modified approach. We are simply trying to improve the process going forward.

We had initially tried to create a standard ASF Service Area letter with instructions and optional language to cover all possible circumstances. However, experience with early ASF applications and grantee feedback has revealed a broad range of situations that do not lend themselves to simplistic “one size fits all” instructions and language.

Instead, we will be providing a single standard letter that should cover the majority of grantees’ situations (the updated letter should be on our web site early next week). The key improvement will be instructions at the beginning of the standard letter indicating for the grantee to contact its Regional Representative on our staff (see details below) in two types of situations – or if the grantee is uncertain or has any questions. We would then be able to discuss some straightforward approaches tailored to the grantee’s specific situation.

If you are at any stage in the development of an ASF application, we also encourage you to contact your Regional Representative so that – when you are ready – our staff can to reach out to your local Customs and Border Protection (CBP) port office to educate the CBP personnel on the ASF and how it relates to their function. That education should facilitate any subsequent ASF-related discussion you would have with CBP. Because we have only started reaching out to CBP offices about the ASF, your contact with your Regional Representative will enable us to prioritize educating your local CBP office.

THIRD, the first Grantee Update e-mail explained the creation of the Regional Representatives to better meet grantees’ needs and improve the functioning of the FTZ program. Listed below are the regions (with the name of the Regional Representative in parentheses after the region name). Contact information for each of those individuals is on our web site – accessible via www.trade.gov/ftz.

WESTERN REGION (Chris Kemp)
Washington
Montana
Oregon
Idaho
Wyoming
Colorado
Utah
Nevada
California
Arizona
New Mexico
Alaska
Hawaii

CENTRAL REGION (Camille Evans)
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Missouri
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Texas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama

GREAT LAKES REGION (Claudia Hausler)
Minnesota
Iowa
Wisconsin
Michigan
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio
Kentucky

SOUTHEASTERN REGION (Kathy Boyce)
Tennessee
West Virginia
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Puerto Rico

NORTHEASTERN REGION (Maureen Hinman)
Maine
Vermont
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Maryland
Delaware

Andrew

Andrew McGilvray
Executive Secretary and Staff Director
U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(202) 482-2862
www.trade.gov/ftz