[Federal Register: May 9, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 89)]
[Notices]              
[Page 26924]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09my06-36]                        

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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