[Federal Register: November 30, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 231)]
[Notices]
[Page 71299]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30no00-32]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 63-2000]

Foreign-Trade Zone 185C--Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce
Expansion of Facilities and Manufacturing Authority--Subzone 185C,
Merck & Co., Inc. Plant (Pharmaceuticals), Elkton, Virginia

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce, grantee of FTZ
185, pursuant to Sec. 400.32(b)(1) of the Board's regulations (15 CFR
Part 400), requesting on behalf of Merck & Co., Inc. (Merck), to add
capacity and to expand the scope of manufacturing authority under zone
procedures at Subzone 185C, at the Merck pharmaceutical plant in
Elkton, Virginia, was formally filed on November 17, 2000.
    Subzone 104A was approved by the Board in 1994 at a single site
(1,333 acres, 624,221 sq. ft., 82 bldgs.) located on Route 340S, in
Elkton (Rockingham County), Virginia, some 20 miles east of
Harrisonburg. The facility (900 employees) is used to produce a range
of human health products. Merck is now proposing to add 15 buildings
and additional capacity to existing buildings (totaling 262,904 sq.
ft). The proposed subzone would then include 97 bldgs. consisting of
887,125 sq. ft. (a 42% increase) on 1,333 acres.
    The application also requests to expand the scope of authority for

manufacturing activity conducted under FTZ procedures at Subzone185C to
include additional general categories of inputs that have recently been
approved by the Board for other pharmaceutical plants. They include
chemically pure sugars, empty capsules for pharmaceutical use, protein
concentrates, natural magnesium phosphates and carbonates, gypsum,
anhydrite and plasters, petroleum jelly, paraffin and waxes, sulfuric
acid, other inorganic acids or compounds of nonmetals, ammonia, zinc
oxide, titanium oxides, fluorides, chlorates, sulfates, salts of
oxometallic acids, radioactive chemical elements, compounds of rare
earth metals, acyclic hydrocarbons, derivatives of phenols or
peroxides, acetals and hemiacetals, phosphoric esters and their salts,
diazo-compounds, glands for therapeutic uses, wadding, gauze and
bandages, pharmaceutical glaze, hair preparations, lubricating
preparations, albumins, prepared glues and adhesives, catalytic
preparations, diagnostic or laboratory reagents, prepared binders,
acrylic polymers, self-adhesive plates and sheets, other articles of

vulcanized rubber, plastic cases, cartons, boxes, printed books,
brochures and similar printed matter, carboys, bottles, and flasks,
stoppers, caps, and lids, aluminum foil, tin plates and sheets, taps,
cocks and valves, and medical instruments and appliances.
    FTZ procedures would exempt Merck from Customs duty payments on the
foreign components used in export activity. On its domestic sales, the
company would be able to elect the duty rates that applies to finished
products (primarily duty-free for finished pharmaceuticals and up to
14.6% for intermediates) for the foreign materials noted above (duty
rates ranging from duty-free to 14.5%). The application indicates that
the expanded use of FTZ procedures will help improve Merck's
international competitiveness.
    The application has requested review under Sec. 400.32(b)(1) of the
FTZ Board regulations on the basis that the proposed activity is the
same, in terms of products involved, to activity recently approved by
the Board and similar in circumstances.

    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 January 2, 2001. Rebuttal comments in
response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be
submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to January 16, 2001).
    Copies of the applications will be available for public inspection
at the following locations:

Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce, 133 West Davis Drive, Culpeper,
Virginia 22701
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room
4008, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street & Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW, Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: November 17, 2000.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-30566 Filed 11-29-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P