[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 113 (Tuesday, June 13, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 31142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-14460]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 29-95]


Foreign-Trade Zone 40--Cleveland, OH, Application for Subzone, 
Ben Venue Laboratories (Pharmaceutical Products) Bedford, OH

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, grantee of 
FTZ 40, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the 
pharmaceutical manufacturing facility of Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc. 
(BVL), in Bedford, Ohio. 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 May 31, 1995.
    BVL is a privately-owned company whose primary business is the 
contract manufacture of sterile, injectable pharmaceutical products for 
major U.S. and foreign pharmaceutical companies. BVL also develops and 
manufactures products for many small, primarily biotechnology-based 
firms, and manufactures its own line of generic oncology products and 
injectable pharmaceuticals.
    BVL's plant (7 bldgs. totalling 200,000 sq. ft. on 10 acres) is 
located at 300 Northfield Road, Bedford, Ohio, some 17 miles south of 
Cleveland. The facility is primarily used to produce sterile, 
injectable pharmaceutical products, such as antibiotics, antivirals, 
biologicals, cardiovasculars, diagnostics and oncologics. Bulk active 
ingredients for certain oncologic products are sourced abroad. The 
company may also purchase from abroad other bulk, active ingredients 
and materials in the following general categories: hydrocarbons and 
derivatives, alcohols and derivatives, phenols, ethers, acetals, 
aldehydes and derivatives, ketones, quinones, mono- and polycarboxylic 
acids and derivatives, amine-function compounds, oxygen function 
compounds, ammonium salts, carboxyimide-function compounds, nitrile-
function compounds, hydrazine/hydroxylamine derivatives, nitrogen 
function compounds, organo-sulfur compounds, heterocyclic compounds, 
sulfonamides, vitamins, hormones, glycosides, vegetable alkaloids, 
sugars, antibiotics, and other organic compounds. Some 10 percent of 
production is exported.
    Zone procedures would exempt BVL from Customs duty payments on 
foreign materials used in production for export. On domestic shipments, 
the company or its customers (in the case of sales to plants operating 
under zone procedures) would be able to choose the duty rates that 
apply to the finished products (duty-free). The duty rates on foreign-
sourced items range from duty-free to 18.6 percent. At the outset, zone 
savings would primarily involve choosing the finished product duty rate 
(duty-free) for a customer's product (HTSUS 3004.90.9015), instead of 
the rate (6.8%) otherwise applicable to the foreign active ingredient 
(HTSUS 2934.90.3000). The application indicates that the savings from 
zone procedures will 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 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 
August 14, 1995. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to August 28, 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, Bank One Center, Suite 
700, 600 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44114
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: June 5, 1995.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-14460 Filed 6-12-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P