[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 159 (Monday, August 18, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 49433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-21061]



[[Page 49433]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 39-2003]


Foreign-Trade Zone 82, Mobile, AL; Request for Manufacturing 
Authority (Agricultural Chemicals)

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the City of Mobile (Alabama), grantee of FTZ 82, 
requesting authority on behalf of E.I. Dupont de Nemours and Company 
(Dupont) for the manufacture of crop protection products and related 
chemicals under FTZ procedures within proposed Site 2 of FTZ 82 (FTZ 
Doc. 19-2003; 68 FR 19498, 4/21/2003). 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 August 7, 2003.
    Dupont operates a 114-acre facility (200 full-time employees and 
100 contract workers) within the proposed Site 2 of FTZ 82 for the 
manufacture of agricultural chemicals, including the insecticides 
marketed under the Avaunt, Steward, Asana, and Fortress trade names. 
The finished products would enter the United States under HTSUS 
headings 2907, 2914, 2916, 2917, 2918, 2920, 2921, 2924, 2926, 2928, 
2930, 2932, 2933, 2934, 2935, 3808, or 3815, with duty rates ranging 
from duty-free to 7.8% ad valorem. Imported inputs are projected to 
comprise less than 20 percent of the value of finished products 
produced under FTZ procedures.
    The company indicates that the following foreign inputs may be 
admitted under FTZ procedures: fulminates, cyanates and thiocyanates; 
cyclic hydorcarbons; halogenated derivatives of hydrocarbons; 
derivatives of hydrocarbons; acyclic alcohols and derivatives; cyclic 
alcohols and derivatives; phenols and phenol-alcohols, and their 
derivatives; ethers, ether-alcohols, ether-phenols, ether-alcohol-
phenols, alcohol peroxides, ether peroxides, ketone peroxides, and 
their derivatives; aldehyde-function compounds and derivatives; ketone-
function compounds and quinone-function compounds; saturated acyclic 
monocarboxylic acids and derivatives; unsaturated acyclic 
monocarboxylic acids and derivatives; polycarboxylic acids and 
derivatives; carboxylic acids and derivatives; phosphoric esters, 
salts, and derivatives; esters of other inorganic salts, and their 
salts and derivatives; amine function compounds; oxygen-function amino-
compounds; quartenary ammonium salts and hydroxides, lecithins, and 
other phosphoaminolipids; carboxyamide-function compounds and amide-
function compounds of carbonic acid; nitrile-function compounds; diazo-
, azo-, or azoxy-compounds; organic derivatives of hydrazine or of 
hydroxylamine; organo-sulfur compounds; other organo-inorganic 
compounds; heterocyclic compounds with nitrogen hetero-atom(s) only; 
sulfonamides; oxidation inhibitors; insecticides, rodenticides, 
fungicides, herbicides, etc.; reaction initiators and accelerators; and 
chemical products and preparations not elsewhere specified (HTS heading 
3824). Duty rates on these imported components currently range from 
duty-free to 7.8 percent.
    This application requests authority to allow Dupont to conduct the 
activity under FTZ procedures, which would exempt the company from 
Customs duty payments on the foreign components used in export 
activity. On its domestic sales, the company would be able to choose 
the duty rate that applies to finished products for the foreign 
components noted above. The company would also be exempt from duty 
payments on foreign merchandise that becomes scrap/waste. The 
application indicates that the savings would help improve the 
facility'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 one of the following addresses:
    1. Submissions Via Express/Package Delivery Services: Foreign-Trade 
Zones Board, U.S. Department of Commerce, Franklin Court Building--
Suite 4100W, 1099 14th St. NW., Washington, DC 20005; or
    2. Submissions Via the U.S. Postal Service: Foreign-Trade Zones 
Board, U.S. Department of Commerce, FCB--Suite 4100W, 1401 Constitution 
Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20230.
    The closing period for their receipt is October 17, 2003. Rebuttal 
comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing period 
may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period to November 3, 
2003.
    A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be 
available for public inspection at the Office of the Foreign-Trade 
Zones Board's Executive Secretary at the first address listed above, 
and at the Office of the City Clerk, City of Mobile, 9th Floor, South 
Tower, Government Plaza, 205 Government Street, Mobile, AL 36602.

    Dated: August 7, 2003.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-21061 Filed 8-15-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P