DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
                           Foreign-Trade Zones Board

                               [Docket No. 31-87]

                                  52 FR 44620

                               November 20, 1987


Foreign-Trade Zone 72 -- Indianapolis, IN; Application for Subzone; Subaru-
Isuzu Auto/Truck Plant, Tippecanoe County, IN

TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Indianapolis Airport Authority, grantee of FTZ 72,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the automobile and light truck
manufacturing plant of Subaru-Isuzu Automotive, Inc. (SIA), located in
Tippecanoe County, Indiana. 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 6, 1987. 

   The SIA plant (350 acres), currently under construction, is located on
State Road 38 at Interstate 65, some 2 miles southeast of Lafayette and 40
miles northwest of Indianapolis. The facility will employ 1600 persons and
will be used to produce automobiles and light trucks. At the outset the
company will source approximately half of the value of the vehicles abroad,
including engines, transmissions, brake system parts, steering system parts,
sheet steel, hubs, shafts, differentials, suspension systems, turbo chargers
and weather stripping.

   Zone procedures would exempt SIA form Customs duty payments on the
components used on products it exports. On its domestic sales of autos, the
company would be able to defer duty payments and to pay duties at the rate
available to importers of complete autos. The duty rate for autos is 2.5
percent, whereas the rates on the foreign components to be used by SIA range
from 3.0 to 4.9 percent. On the trucks (25 percent duty rate) SIA plans to
use zone procedures to defer duty payments. The applicant indicates that
zone savings will help improve the company's international competitiveness.

   In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigate 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; Larry Shirk,
Assistant District Director, U.S. Customs Service, North Central Region,
610 South Canal St., Chicago, IL 60607; and Colonel Robert L. Oliver,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Louisville, P.O. Box 59,
Louisville, KY 40201. 

   Comments concerning the proposed subzone 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 January 8, 1988.

   A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:

U.S. Dept. of Commerce District Office,
357 U.S. Courthouse & Federal Office Bldg.,
46 E. Ohio St.,
Indianapolis, IN 46204


Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th and Pennsylvania, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230 

   Dated: November 12, 1987.


John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

   Executive Secretary.  
[FR doc. 87-26842 Filed 11-19-87; 8:45 am]

   BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M