[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 130 (Tuesday, July 8, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 36487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-17775]


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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