[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 235 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 70996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-26975]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 55-2004]


Foreign-Trade Zone 81--Portsmouth, NH, Application for Subzone 
Status, Millipore Corporation (Polyvinylidene Fluoride Filtering 
Devices), Jaffrey, NH

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Pease Development Authority (formerly the New 
Hampshire State Port Authority), grantee of FTZ 81, requesting special-
purpose subzone status for the polyvinylidene fluoride filtering device 
manufacturing plant of Millipore Corporation (Millipore), located in 
Jaffrey, New Hampshire. 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 November 30, 2004.
    The Millipore facility (52 acres/176,000 sq.ft.) is located at 11 
Prescott Road in Jaffrey (Cheshire County), New Hampshire. The facility 
(430 employees) is used to produce polyvinylidene fluoride membrane 
filtering devices (classified under HTSUS 8421.21, 8421.22, 8421.29, 
8421.39.80, 8421.99) under the Durapore[reg] brand for export and the 
domestic market. The finished filtering devices include centrifugals, 
capsule filters, pressure/vacuum cartridge filters, tangential flow 
devices, cassettes, and stacked, cut-disc membrane filters used in the 
pharmaceutical, electronics, and food/beverage industries. The 
manufacturing process at the facility involves injection molding, 
lamination, pleating, trimming, assembly, finishing, testing, and 
warehousing. The plant has capacity to produce between 500,000 to 
900,000 Durapore[reg] filtration devices annually. The foreign-sourced 
material input to be used in the manufacture of the Durapore[reg] 
products is polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane (classified under 
HTSUS 3921.19.00, 6.5%), which represents between 70 to 98 percent of 
finished product material value.
    FTZ procedures would exempt Millipore from Customs duty payments on 
the foreign-origin PVDF used in export production. On its domestic 
shipment and exports to NAFTA markets, the company would be able to 
elect the duty rate that applies to finished Durapore[reg] filters 
(duty free) for the foreign PVDF membrane shipped from the plant as 
part of the filtration products. Duties would be deferred or reduced on 
foreign production equipment admitted to the proposed subzone until 
which time it becomes operational. The application indicates that 
subzone status 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 following addresses:
    1. Submissions via Express/Package Delivery Services: Foreign-Trade 
Zones Board, U.S. Department of Commerce, Franklin Court Building-
4100W, 1099 14th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005; or,
    2. Submissions via the U.S. Postal Service: Foreign-Trade Zones 
Board, U.S. Department of Commerce, FCB-4100W, 1401 Constitution Ave., 
NW., Washington, DC 20230.
    The closing period for their receipt is February 7, 2005. Rebuttal 
comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing period 
may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to February 22, 
2005).
    A copy of the application will be available for public inspection 
at the Office of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board's Executive Secretary at 
address No. 1 listed above and at the Commerce Department's Export 
Assistance Center, 17 New Hampshire Avenue, Portsmouth, NH 03801.

    Dated: November 30, 2004.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 04-26975 Filed 12-7-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P