[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 46 (Friday, March 9, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 10643]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-4285]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 9-2007]


Foreign-Trade Zone 38-Spartanburg County, South Carolina, 
Application for Subzone, Leiner Health Products LLC (Ibuprofen 
Products), Fort Mill, South Carolina

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) 
Board (the Board) by the South Carolina State Ports Authority, grantee 
of FTZ 38, requesting special-purpose subzone status with manufacturing 
authority for certain ibuprofen products at the pharmaceutical 
manufacturing facility of Leiner Health Products, LLC (Leiner), located 
in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Leiner is a manufacturer of store-brand 
vitamin, mineral and nutritional supplements (VMS) and over-the-counter 
(OTC) pharmaceutical products. 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 2, 2007.
    The proposed subzone (1 building of 620,000 square feet of enclosed 
space on 27 acres) is located at 355 Crestmont Drive, in Fort Mill, 
South Carolina. The Leiner plant (600 permanent employees and 100-200 
seasonal employees) manufactures, packages, and warehouses both solid-
dose VMS and OTC pharmaceutical products.
    Initially, Leiner is proposing to manufacture ibuprofen products 
under zone procedures at the plant. At the outset, inverted tariff zone 
savings will result from the production of finished ibuprofen mixture 
(HTSUS 3003.90, duty-free) and finished ibuprofen products (HTSUS 
3004.90, duty-free; up to 2.5 billion pills per year) using foreign-
sourced active ingredient ibuprofen (HTSUS 2916.39, 6.5% duty rate).
    The application also indicates the possibility of producing bulk 
acetaminophen mixture (HTSUS 3003.90, duty-free) and finished 
acetaminophen products (HTSUS 3004.90, duty-free), which the company 
may produce at the plant in the future, using foreign-sourced active 
ingredient acetaminophen (HTSUS 2924.29, 6.5% duty rate). (New major 
activity for this product would require review by the FTZ Board.) 
Leiner also plans to admit other foreign inputs under FTZ procedures, 
but will make customs entry before manufacture into products at the 
Fort Mill facility or before distribution to other Leiner U.S. 
manufacturing facilities.
    For Leiner's ibuprofen-related production, zone procedures would 
exempt the company from Customs duty payments on foreign materials used 
in production for export. On domestic shipments, the company would be 
able to choose the duty rate during Customs entry procedures that 
applies to finished ibuprofen mixture and products (duty-free) for the 
otherwise dutiable foreign active ingredient inputs (6.5% duty rate) 
noted above (inverted tariff).
    Leiner would also obtain duty deferral savings and be able to avoid 
duty on foreign inputs which become scrap/waste (approximately 5% scrap 
and waste rate). Additionally, Leiner may realize logistical/procedural 
and other benefits from subzone status. The application projects up to 
$642,000 in total FTZ savings (some 65% of which are tied to the 
inverted tariff on ibuprofen), which it indicates would help improve 
the international competitiveness of Leiner's Fort Mill plant.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. Information 
submitted for the record generally should be in a non-proprietary 
format. If there is a need to submit business proprietary information, 
it should be appropriately marked and summarized or ranged (in the case 
of numerical data) in the public submission, which should be 
accompanied by a single business proprietary version.
    Submissions (original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the 
Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing period 
for the receipt of the public comment submissions is May 10, 2007. 
Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the 
foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period 
through May 25, 2007.
    A copy of the application will be available for public inspection 
at each of the following locations: U.S. Department of Commerce Export 
Assistance Center, 521 East Morehead Street, Suite 435, Charlotte, NC 
28217; and, Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones 
Board, Room 2814B, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20230-0002.
    For further information, contact Diane Finver at [email protected] or (202) 482-1367.

    Dated: March 5, 2007.
Andrew McGilvray,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7-4285 Filed 3-8-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S