DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
                           Foreign-Trade Zones Board

                               [Docket No. 11-87]

                                  52 FR 32821

                                August 31, 1987


Foreign-Trade Zone 70, Detroit, Michigan; Application for Subzones by General
Motors Auto Assembly Plants in Detroit, and Orion Township, MI 

TEXT: Notice is hereby given that an application has been submitted to the
Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the Greater Detroit Foreign-Trade
Zone, Inc. (GDFTZ), grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone 70, requesting special-
purpose subzone status for two General Motors Corporation (GM) auto assembly
plants, one in the City of Detroit, the other in Orion Township, Michigan,
adjacent to the Detroit Customs port of entry. The application was submitted
pursuant to the provisions of the Foreign-Trade Zones Act, as amended (19
USC 81a-81u), and the regulations of the Board (15 CFR Part 400). It was
formally filed on August 17, 1987.

   The proposed subzones would involve GM's Detroit/Hamtramck (D/H) and
Orion assembly plants. The D/H plant occupies 362 acres at 250 East General
Motors Boulevard, Detroit, a portion of the plant being within the adjacent
community of Hamtramck. The Orion plant covers 492 acres at 4555 Giddings
Road, Orion Township. 

   Both plants are in the B-O-C group, which produce Buick, Oldsmobile, and
Cadillac products. The D/H plant employs 4,900 workers and the Orion plant
employs 7,000. GM plants use mostly domestic components, with some 2 percent
being sourced abroad. The foreign items include radios, cassettes, wiring
harnesses, instrument panel pads and steering wheels.

   Zone procedures will exempt GM from paying duties on foreign components
used in exports. On domestic sales, the company will be able to defer duty
and take advantage of the same duty rate that is available to importers of
finished automobiles. The average duty rate on the foreign parts used by GM
is 4.3 percent, whereas the duty rate for automobiles is 2.5 percent. These
savings are part of GM's overall cost-reduction efforts designed to make
the company's U.S. plants more competitive with auto assembly facilities
abroad. 

   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; William L.
Morandini, District Director, U.S. Customs Service, North Central Region,
477 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48226-2568; and Colonel Robert F.
Harris, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Detroit, P.O. Box
1027, Detroit, Michigan 48231-1027. 

   Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested persons and organizations. They shall be addressed to the Board's
Executive Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before October
9, 1987. 

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


U.S. Department of Commerce District Office,
1140 McNamara Building,
477 Michigan Avenue,
Detroit, Michigan 48226


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

   Dated: August 24, 1987.


John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

   Executive Secretary.  
[FR Doc. 87-19959 Filed 8-28-87; 8:45 am]

   BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M