NOTICES

                           DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

                               [Docket 63-91]

                           Foreign-Trade Zone 61--San Juan,
                Puerto Rico; Application for Subzone, Searle
                 Pharmaceutical Plant, Caguas, Puerto Rico

                          Friday, November 1, 1991


An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the Puerto Rico Commercial and Farm Credit and Development
Corporation, grantee of FTZ 61, requesting special-purpose subzone status
for the pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities of Searle & Company (Searle)
(subsidiary of Monsanto Co.) in Caguas, Puerto Rico, adjacent to the San
Juan Customs port of entry. 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 October 22, 1991.

The Searle plant (293,000 sq. ft. on 29 acres) is located at Munoz Marin
Avenue and Road 189 in Caguas. The facility (504 employees) is used to
produce a wide range of pharmaceutical products including cardiovascular,
antihistamine, antiasthmatic, hormonal, antimicrobial, anticholinergic,
antipsychotic, gastrointestinal, and antidiarrheal products as well as
anabolic steroids. Certain materials are purchased from abroad including
verapamil, betaxolol, spironolactone, misoprostol, ethynodiol diacetate,
haloperidol, calan, oxandrolone, ethynil estradiol norethynodrel,
norethindrone, sodium alginate and kerlone.

Zone procedures would exempt Searle from Customs duty payments on material
used in production for export. On domestic sales the company would be able
to choose the duty rates that apply to finished products (3.9 to 6.3%). The
duty rates on the foreign materials range from 0.2 to 13.5 percent. The
application indicates that the zone savings will help improve the plant's
international competitiveness.

In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has been
approved 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; Howard Cooperman,
Regional Director of Inspection & Control, U.S. Customs Service, Southeast
Region, 909 SE. First Avenue, Miami, Florida 33131-2595; and Colonel
Terrance C. Salt, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District
Jacksonville, P.O. Box 4970, Jacksonville, Florida 32232-0019.

Comments concerning the proposed subzones 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 December 19, 1991.

A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of the
following locations:
Office of the District Director,
U.S. Department of Commerce, rm. G-55,
Federal Bldg., Chardon Avenue,
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918.

Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., room 3716,
Washington, DC 20230.

Dated: October 24, 1991.

John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 91-26452 Filed 10-31-91; 8:45 am]