[Federal Register: December 29, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 249)]
[Notices]
[Page 71617-71618]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29de98-30]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 58-98]

Foreign-Trade Zone 22--Chicago, Illinois; Expansion of
Manufacturing Authority--Subzone 22F; Abbott Laboratories, Inc.,
Facilities (Pharmaceuticals) Chicago, IL

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Illinois International Port District, grantee of FTZ
22, requesting authority on behalf of the Abbott Laboratories, Inc.
(Abbott), to expand the scope of manufacturing authority under zone
procedures at the Abbott facilities in the Chicago, Illinois, area. It
was formally filed on December 17, 1998.
    Subzone 22F was approved by the Board in 1992 at four sites (791
acres) of the Abbott manufacturing and research complex in North
Chicago, and adjacent Lake County, Illinois: Site 1 (75 buildings/2.4
million sq. ft. on 140 acres)--North Chicago manufacturing,
administrative, and laboratory facilities.

[[Page 71618]]

14th Street and Sheridan Road, North Chicago; Site 2 (28 buildings/3.6
million sq. ft. on 480 acres)--Abbott Park manufacturing,
administrative and laboratory facilities, One Abbott Park Road, Lake
County; Site 3 (129 acres)--Jennett site, undeveloped tract with urban
zoning, Atkinson Road, Lake County; and Site 4 (4 buildings/369,000 sq.
ft. on 42 acres)--Skokie site, manufacturing, administrative, research
facilities, 22nd Street, North Chicago. Authority was granted for the
manufacture of three products indicated in its original application:
clarythromycin, temafloxin, timethoxybenzene (Board Order 611, 57 FR
61045, 12/23/92).
    Abbott is now proposing to expand the scope of authority for
manufacturing activity conducted under FTZ procedures at Subzone 22F to
include a wider range of pharmaceuticals and their intermediates,
medicaments and laboratory and medical instruments and appliances. The
facility (with some 10,000 employees) produces finished pharmaceutical
products, primarily anti-infectives, cardiovascular agents, anti-AIDS

treatments, and anti-cancer agents, as well as laboratory and medical
appliances and devices. At the outset, the company is expecting to
manufacture the following under zone procedures: aminosyn, an
intravenous nutritional (HTSUS 3004.90.1000); valproic acid, an anti-
epileptic agent (HTSUS 2915.90.1400); clarithromycin, an anti-infective
(HTSUS 3003.90.0000); and, ABT378, an anti-AIDS protease inhibitor
(HTSUS 3004.90.9010). Foreign-sourced materials for these products
include L-threonine (HTSUS 2922.50.5000), L-lysine (HTSUS
2922.41.0090), L-tryptophan (HTSUS 2933.90.7900), diethyl dipropyl
malonate (HTSUS 2917.19.7050), hydroxylamine (HTSUS 2825.10.000), 2,6-
dimethyl-henoxyacetic acid (HTSUS 2918.90.4300), wing A acid (HTSUS
2933.59.7000), and wing B acid (HTSUS 2933.59.9500), and will account
for, on average, 16 percent of material value.
    The company may also purchase from abroad ingredients and materials
in the following general categories: gums, starches, waxes, vegetable
extracts, mineral oils, sugars, empty capsules, protein concentrates,

prepared animal feed, mineral products, inorganic acids, chlorides,
chlorates, sulfites, sulfates, phosphates, cyanides, silicates,
radioactive chemicals, rare-earth metal compounds, hydroxides,
hydrazine and hydroxylamine, chlorides, phosphates, carbonates,
hydrocarbons, alcohols, phenols, ethers, epoxides, acetals, aldehydes,
ketone function compounds, mono- and polycarboxylic acids, phosphoric
esters, amine-, carboxymide-, nitrile- and oxygen-function compounds,
heterocyclic compounds, sulfonamides, insecticides, rodenticides,
fungicides and herbicides, fertilizers, vitamins, hormones,
antibiotics, gelatins, enzymes, pharmaceutical glaze, essential oils,
albumins, gelatins, activated carbon, residual lyes, acrylic polymers,
color lakes, soaps and detergents, various packaging and printing
materials, medicaments, pharmaceutical products, and instruments and
appliances used in medical sciences.
    FTZ procedures would exempt Abbott from Customs duty payments on
the foreign components used in export activity (currently some 10% of

shipments). On its domestic sales, the company would be able to elect
the duty rate that applies to finished products (duty-free) for the
foreign components noted above (duty rates ranging from duty-free to
16.3%, with most between 3.7% and 12.3%+2.2 cents/kg.). The application
indicates that the savings from FTZ procedures will help improve
Abbott's international competitiveness.
    Public comment on the application is invited from interested
parties. Submissions (original and three copies) shall be addressed to
the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing
period for their receipt is March 1, 1999. Rebuttal comments in
response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be
submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to March 16, 1999).
    A copy of the application will be available for public inspection
at the following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, 55 West Monroe
Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street & Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW, Washington, DC 20230.

    Dated: December 17, 1998.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Acting Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-34470 Filed 12-28-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P