INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT Aviation
According to the Foreign-Trade
Zone Board, foreign and domestic
merchandise may -- subject to certain
regulations -- be moved into zones for
operations such as storage, exhibition,
manipulation and manufacturing. The
board’s regulations require a caseby-case review for all manufacturing
activity to be conducted in FTZs. Under
zone procedures, the formal customs
entry procedure and payment of duties
are not required on foreign merchandise
unless customs entry is for purposes
of domestic consumption. For foreign
merchandise that undergoes further
processing in a zone before customs
entry, the importer ordinarily has a
choice of paying duties on the original
foreign materials or on the resulting
finished product. Domestic goods
moved into a zone for export can be
considered exported upon entering the
zone for purposes of excise tax rebates
and drawback.
This flexibility and scope can
mean big bottom-line differences
for businesses in North Texas, said
Methenitis.
“With eight counties total [in the
FTZ], you’re talking about well over
1,000 square miles. It’s a gigantic
geographic profile. So any business is
quickly able to access the benefits and
have a very low up-front cost. In terms
of up-front cost and timing, it doesn’t
get any better than it is in the DFW
Metroplex,” he said.
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www.ntc-dfw.org
Winter/Spring 2015
Left: Dubai Airport
Freezone ceremony with
His Highness Sheik Ahmed
bin Saeed Al Maktoum,
chairman of Dubai Airport
Freezone, and Dallas Mayor
Mike Rawlings at the
signing ceremony in March
of 2012.
RIGHT: Farglory trade
signing event at DFW,
featuring Chao Teng-Hsiung,
Chairman of the Farglory
Group, who signed the
agreement.
Many foreign-trade
zones have included sites
at seaports or airports as
well as industrial parks,
with the intent of attracting
companies to the zone.
Increasing numbers of
zones are now opting to
use the “Alternative Site
Framework” made available
by the board beginning
in December 2008, which
enables a much quicker,
simpler on-demand process
to designate “subzones”
or “usage-driven sites” at
specific companies’ facilities.
“Business has continued
to double year after year
since 2000,” Wilkins said.
“Prior to that, you had to
manufacture something
to be part of the program.
Now, with the President’s
National Export Initiative,
com