[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 49 (Friday, March 13, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 12440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-6563]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 11-98]


Foreign-Trade Zone 147--Reading, Pennsylvania; Application for 
Foreign-Trade Subzone Status: Bayer Corporation (Aspirin Products), 
Myerstown, Pennsylvania

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Foreign Trade Zone Corporation of Southeastern 
Pennsylvania, grantee of FTZ 147, requesting special-purpose subzone 
status for the pharmaceutical manufacturing facility (aspirin products) 
of Bayer Corporation (Bayer), located in Myerstown, Pennsylvania. 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 March 4, 1998.
    The Bayer facility (2 buildings/177,000 sq. ft.) is located at 410 
West Stoever Avenue in Myerstown (Lebanon County), Pennsylvania. The 
facility (175 employees) is used for the manufacture of over-the-
counter aspirin products. The primary material input is bulk aspirin--
ortho-acetylsalicylic acid (HTSUS 2918.22.10), which the company 
currently purchases from a domestic source. Bayer is now planning to 
purchase bulk aspirin from abroad (up to some 950,000 kg./yr.).
    Zone procedures would enable Bayer to choose the lower duty rate 
that applies to the finished products (duty-free) instead of the duty 
rate that would otherwise apply to foreign bulk aspirin (duty rate--
8.7%). The application indicates that the savings from zone procedures 
would help improve the plant's 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 May 21, 1998. Rebuttal comments in response 
to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted 
during the subsequent 15-day period to May 27, 1998. 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 and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20230
U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center, 615 Chestnut St., 
Suite 1501, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106.

    Dated: March 6, 1998.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Acting Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-6563 Filed 3-12-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P