[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 184 (Friday, September 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 55422]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-8078]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Order No. 1480]


Proposal to Facilitate the Use of Foreign-Trade Zones by Small 
and Medium-Sized Manufacturers

    Pursuant to its authority under the Foreign-Trade Zones Act, of 
June 18, 1934, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u), the Foreign-Trade 
Zones Board (the Board) adopts the following Order:
    WHEREAS, the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) Board (the Board), has 
proposed modifying its 2004 delegation of authority to the Board's 
Executive Secretary to approve temporary/interim manufacturing (T/IM) 
authority under certain circumstances;
    WHEREAS, the FTZ Board published a Federal Register notice on April 
25, 2006 (71 FR 23895-23896) describing a proposal to define 
eligibility for T/IM application consideration on the basis of broader 
product and input categories than is currently the Board's practice;\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The notice soliciting comments on the proposal stated that 
T/IM applicants would still be required to explain the specific 
activity which they seek to conduct under T/IM procedures, including 
the degree of similarity of requested products/inputs to already 
approved products/inputs in the T/IM database. The notice added that 
modification of the T/IM procedure would leave most current elements 
of T/IM practice in place, including limitation to non-complex, non-
controversial proposals, the requirement for a 30-day public comment 
period on any T/IM proposal, the practice of consultation with 
appropriate industry experts within government, and the FTZ Board 
Executive Secretary's discretion to refer any T/IM case to the full 
FTZ Board.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    WHEREAS, the FTZ Board staff has prepared a report (``Improving the 
Temporary/Interim Manufacturing Procedure for Small and Medium-Sized 
Manufacturers'') recommending adoption of the proposal described in the 
Federal Register notice;
    NOW, THEREFORE, the FTZ Board adopts the recommendations of the FTZ 
Board staff report and hereby modifies its delegation of authority to 
the FTZ Board's Executive Secretary to grant temporary or interim 
authority for manufacturing within pre-existing FTZ space, subject to 
the conditions, restrictions, and limitations described in the Board's 
Federal Register notice (71 FR 23895-23896, 4/25/2006) and in the FTZ 
Board staff report, and leaving in place any elements of the existing 
T/IM delegation not modified in the published proposal or FTZ Board 
staff report, including a requirement that the FTZ Board staff notify 
the Board members (or their delegates) of all grants of T/IM authority 
on a quarterly basis.
    Signed at Washington, DC, this 15\th\ day of September 2006.

David M. Spooner,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Import Administration,Alternate 
ChairmanForeign-Trade Zones Board.
    Attest:
Pierre V. Duy,
Acting Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 06-8078 Filed 9-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S