[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 9, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 26924]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7053]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 17-2006]


Foreign-Trade Subzone 29F - Harrodsburg, KY, Hitachi Automotive 
Products (USA), Inc., Removal of Restriction (Automotive Components)

    A application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by Hitachi Automotive Products, Inc. (HAP), operator of 
Subzone 29F, at the HAP automotive components manufacturing plant in 
Harrodsburg, Kentucky, requesting removal of the restriction pursuant 
to Board Order 497. It was formally filed on April 28, 2006.
    Subzone 29F was approved by the Board in 1990 with authority 
granted for the manufacture of automotive components under FTZ 
procedures for the U.S. market and export (Board Order 497, 56 FR 674, 
1-8-91). The manufacturing authority was approved with a restriction 
requiring that privileged foreign status (19 CFR 146.41) must be 
elected on all foreign-origin merchandise admitted to the subzone for 
use in the manufacture of automotive components, except for merchandise 
that is used in the manufacture of high-tech, electronic automotive 
components, such as control units, electronic throttle bodies, and mass 
air sensors. The restriction precludes inverted tariff benefits on 
foreign-origin merchandise used to manufacture standard, commodity-type 
components (e.g., starters, alternators, pressure sensors) for the U.S. 
market.
    HAP is now requesting that the Board remove the restriction 
requiring that foreign-origin merchandise must be admitted to the 
subzone under privileged foreign status when such merchandise is to be 
used in the manufacture of standard, commodity-type products. The 
commodity-type automotive components subject to unrestricted FTZ 
benefits would include: Hydraulic pumps, fuel injection pumps, filters, 
catalytic converters, valves and actuators, motors, inverters, ignition 
coils, starters, generators, voltage regulators, transistors, 
conductors, thermistors, carbon brushes, integrated circuits, relay 
boxes, terminal covers, and wiring sets (duty rate range: free - 4.4%). 
Foreign-origin material inputs comprise approximately 80 percent of 
HAP's finished automotive components' material value and include: 
adhesives, plastic fittings, plastic and rubber belts, fasteners, 
gaskets/seals/o-rings, metal fittings, labels, plastic wedging, 
springs, brackets, plates, filters, bearings, air pumps/compressors, 
valves, switches, electric motors, tubes/pipes/profiles, aluminum 
plugs, transformers, crankshafts, camshafts, gears, pulleys, couplings, 
clutches, parts of electric motors, pinions, magnets, ignition parts, 
diodes, transistors, semiconductors, liquid crystal devices, electrical 
instruments, television cameras, navigation apparatus, capacitors, 
resistors, printed/integrated circuits, fuses, rheostats, connectors, 
terminals, piezoelectric crystals, regulators, lamps, wires, cables, 
insulators, brushes, steering wheels, hubs, brackets, shafts, and 
measuring instruments (duty rate range: free - 8.6%).
    FTZ procedures exempt HAP from Customs duty payments on the foreign 
component inputs used in production for export to non-NAFTA countries. 
On its domestic shipments and exports to NAFTA markets, the company 
would be able to elect the duty rate that applies to finished 
automotive components (2.5%) for the foreign inputs within the finished 
commodity-type automotive components. On the finished, commodity-type 
components shipped from the HAP plant in-bond to U.S. light vehicle 
auto assembly plants with subzone status, no duties would be paid on 
the foreign-origin inputs until the finished vehicles are formally 
entered for consumption, at which time the automobile duty rate (2.5%) 
would be applied to the foreign-origin inputs. The request indicates 
that the savings from FTZ procedures will continue to help improve the 
HAP 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 the address below. The closing period for their receipt is 
July 10, 2006. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period to July 24, 2006.
    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, Room 634B, 601 
West Broadway, Louisville, Kentucky 40202; and, Office of the Executive 
Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 1115, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, District of 
Columbia 20230-0002; Tel: (202) 482-2862.

    Dated: April 28, 2006.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. E6-7053 Filed 5-8-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S