[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 149 (Wednesday, August 4, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 46916]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-19139]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
Proposal for Minor Adjustments to Optional Alternative Site
Framework
The Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) Board is inviting public comment on a
staff proposal to make minor adjustments to the Board's practice
regarding the alternative site framework (ASF) adopted by the Board in
December 2008 (74 FR 1170, 01/12/09; correction 74 FR 3987, 01/22/09)
as an option for grantees to designate and manage their general-purpose
FTZ sites. The proposed adjustments focus on eliminating the current
requirement for ``activation limits'' on a site-specific basis and on
allowing more flexibility regarding letters from jurisdictions within a
grantee's proposed ``service area.''
The first modification now proposed for the ASF is to eliminate the
current requirement that each site of a participating zone be assigned
a specific limit on the amount of space that can be activated with U.S.
Customs and Border protection at that site. The original intent of
site-specific activation limits was to help ensure compliance with the
overall 2,000-acre activation limit for each general-purpose zone
project. However, feedback from grantees indicates that the site-
specific activation limits are cumbersome in practice. This is
particularly true because a grantee could face the burden of requesting
changes to site-specific activation limits based on unforeseen
circumstances in the future.
In the period since the adoption of the ASF proposal, the FTZ Board
staff has been developing a system (the Online FTZ Information System--
OFIS) to make available via the internet a range of information about
every FTZ site. OFIS will include user accounts for grantees so that a
grantee will be able to update the information regarding the amount of
space activated at its sites as new activations (or deactivations)
occur. Given that the OFIS functionality to display FTZ site
information on the internet should be available for general use within
a few months, the Board staff is now proposing that the tracking of
activated acreage via OFIS be adopted as a substitute for the site-
specific activation limits. For any zone already approved under the ASF
or with a pending application, the site-specific activation limits
contained in the grantee's application to reorganize under the ASF
would simply no longer apply (with only the standard 2,000-acre
activation limit for each general-purpose zone continuing to govern
overall activation within the zone).
The second modification proposed by the FTZ Board staff is to allow
more flexibility regarding application requirements for letters from
jurisdictions (ordinarily counties) within the proposed service area.
The Board staff recognizes the challenge that certain grantees have
faced in obtaining ``support'' letters from jurisdictions, particularly
given the standard language for such letters initially developed by the
staff as part of the implementation of the ASF. As a result, the Board
staff proposes to allow the submission in ASF reorganization
applications of letters from the jurisdictions which simply (1)
acknowledge that the appropriate official(s) of the jurisdiction is
aware of the proposal to include the jurisdiction in the service area
of the zone in question and (2) present any views of the official(s) of
the jurisdiction on the proposal. This proposed modification also
recognizes that the regulatory standard (15 CFR 400.23(a)) applicable
to the review of such applications includes a range of criteria, one of
which is the ``views of State and local public officials.''
Public comment on these proposed adjustments to the FTZ Board's
practice regarding the ASF is invited from interested parties. We ask
that parties submit their comments electronically to [email protected] or
fax a copy of their comments, addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary, to (202) 482-0002. We also ask that parties submit the
original of their comments to the Board's Executive Secretary at the
following address: U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2111, 1401
Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20230. The closing period for the
receipt of public comments is September 3, 2010. Any questions about
this request for comments may be directed to the FTZ Board staff at
(202) 482-2862.
Dated: July 30, 2010.
Andrew McGilvray,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-19139 Filed 8-3-10; 8:45 am]
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