DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 21-88]
53 FR 16178
May 5, 1988
Foreign-Trade Zone 50 -- Long Beach, CA; Application for Extension of
Subzone Status at Toyota Auto/Truck Parts Plant (SZ 50A), Long Beach
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(TFZ Board) by the Board of Harbor Commissioners of the City of Long Beach,
California (BHC), grantee of FTZ 50, requesting a time-extension of the
authority for Subzone 50A at the auto/truck parts manufacturing plant of
Toyota Auto Body, Inc., of California (Toyota) (formerly, Toyota Motor
Manufacturing U.S.A., Inc.) in Long Beach, California. The 19-acre facility
(plant space -- 284,000 sq. ft.), located at 6357 Paramount Blvd., Long
Beach, California, presently employs 300 persons. The application also
requests authority for certain new activity that was not part of the
original application. It was submitted pursuant to the provisions of the
Foriegn-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 April 18, 1988.
On July 14, 1983, the FTZ Board authorized Subzone 50A for a period of 5
years, subject to extension (Board Order 213, 48 FR 34792, 8-1-83). The
original authority applied to truck beds, and administrative authority was
given for fuel tank activity in March 1986. BHC is now requesting an
indefinate time-extension of the subzone, and authority to expand the scope
of operations conducted under zone procedures to include the stamping of
auto body parts and the coating of catalytic converter substrates. Virtually
all of the steel material used by Toyota is and would continue to be sourced
abroad. Most of the remaining materials are domestic. Some experts are
planned.
Zone procedures would exempt Toyota from duty payments on the foreign
steel used in its exports. On its domestic sales, it would select the duty
rate on truck beds (3.7%) and the rate on the fuel tanks and stampings
(3.1%), rather than the rates on steel (4.0 to 6.5%). The applicant
indicates that continued zone savings will help keep the plant
internationally competitive.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigage the application and report to the Board. The
committee consists of: Dennis Puccinelli (Chairman), Foreign-Trade Zones
Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; John Heinrich,
District Director, U.S. Customs Service, Pacific Region, 300 South Ferry
St., Terminal Island, San Pedro, CA 90731; and, Colonel Tadahiko Ono,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Los Angeles, P.O. Box 271,
Los Angeles, CA 90053.
Comments concerning the proposed subzones extension are invited in
writing from interested parties. They should be addressed to the Board's
Executive Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before June
15, 1988.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each
of the following locations:
U.S. Dept. of Commerce District Office,
11777 San Vicente Blvd., Rm 800,
Los Angeles, CA 90049.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 88-10017 Filed 5-4-88; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M