[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 4, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 17052]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8192]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 9-95]


Foreign-Trade Zone 93, Triangle J Council of Governments; 
Application for Subzone: AT&T/Custom Manufacturing Services 
(Telecommunication and Computer Products) Whitsett, NC (Greensboro 
area)

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Triangle J Council of Governments, grantee of FTZ 
93, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the telecommunication 
and computer products manufacturing plant of Custom Manufacturing 
Services (CMS), (subsidiary of AT&T Corporation) in Whitsett (Guilford 
County), North Carolina, adjacent to the Greensboro 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 
March 27, 1995).
    The CMS facility (3 buildings/210,000 sq. ft. on 19 acres) is 
located at 6537 Judge Adams Road, Whitsett, North Carolina, 10 miles 
east of Greensboro. The facility (400 employees) is used to produce a 
variety of telecommunications and computer products, components and 
subassemblies. Telecommunication products include encryption devices, 
speech compression devices, cellular handsets and network equipment, 
ATM and digital conferencing switches, optical and voice recognition 
circuit packs, teleconferencing bridges and routers, and power 
equipment for voice and data transmission. Computer products include 
signal processing computers, local-area network (LAN)/ wide-area 
network (WAN) equipment, workstations, high resolution terminals, 
printers, portable copiers, optical disk drives, disk array 
controllers, and memory modules. Most of the products are manufactured 
under contract for other AT&T plants and for other telecommunication 
and computer product manufacturers.
    Foreign components currently account for 15 percent of material 
used in production. Items sourced from abroad include cable assemblies, 
computer parts and subassemblies, dial pad assemblies, computer 
monitors and displays, sheet glass, semiconductors, integrated 
circuits, keypads, LCDs (liquid crystal displays), LEDs (light emitting 
diodes), microphones, power supplies, printed circuit assemblies, 
printed wiring boards, ringers, speakers, switches, rectifiers, 
resistors, transformers, transistors, capacitors, connectors, diodes, 
and hardware, including screws and bolts.
    Zone procedures would exempt CMS from Customs duty payments on 
foreign components used in production for export. On domestic sales, 
the company would be able to choose the duty rate that applies to the 
finished product (duty rates, duty-free to 8.5%). The duty rates on 
foreign components range from duty-free to 10 percent. The application 
indicates that zone procedures will improve the plant's international 
competitiveness and will help increase exports.
    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 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 
June 5, 1995. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to June 18, 1995).
    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 District Office, 400 West Market Street, 
Suite 400, Greensboro, North Carolina 27401.
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230.

    Dated: March 28, 1995.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-8192 Filed 4-3-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P