[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 115 (Monday, June 16, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32581-32582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-15749]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 46-97]


Foreign-Trade Zone 22, Chicago, Illinois; Application for Subzone 
Status Henkel Corporation (Natural Vitamin E), Kankakee, Illinois

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Illinois International Port District, grantee of FTZ 
22, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the natural Vitamin E 
manufacturing facility of Henkel Corporation (Henkel) in Kankakee, 
Illinois. Henkel is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Henkel of America, 
Inc., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Henkel KgaA (Germany), a 
global manufacturer of oleochemicals and organic specialty chemicals. 
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 
June 4, 1997.
    Henkel's plant (177,500 mfg. sq. ft./306 acres) is located on South 
Kensington Road in the city of Kankakee (Kankakee County), Illinois, 
some 60 miles south of Chicago. The facility (400 employees) produces 
thermoplastic resins, adhesives, dimer acid products, natural vitamin 
E, sterols, fatty acids, sulfation products and plastic additive 
products. The facility also serves as Henkel's Midwest Distribution 
Center. The application requests authority to manufacture only Vitamin 
E, sterols and fatty acids under zone procedures. Some of the vegetable 
oil distillate is sourced abroad, accounting for approximately 15 to 25 
percent of the value of the natural vitamin E produced at the facility. 
Some 20 to 40 percent of production is exported.
    Zone procedures would exempt Henkel from Customs duty payments on 
foreign materials used in production for export. On domestic shipments, 
the company would be able to choose the duty rates that apply to the 
finished products (duty-free to 4.1%) instead of the rates otherwise 
applicable to the foreign material (deodorizer distillate rates could 
range from duty-free to 11.5% + 2.6 cents/kg., depending on Customs 
classification and GSP status). The application indicates that the 
savings from zone procedures will help improve the international 
competitiveness of Henkel's Kankakee plant and will help increase 
exports.
    In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ 
Staff has been designated examiner to

[[Page 32582]]

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 15, 1997. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to September 2, 1997).
    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 Export Assistance Center, Suite 2440, 55 
West Monroe St., Chicago, Illinois 60603
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230.

    Dated: June 5, 1997.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-15749 Filed 6-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P