World Wide Technology Seeks FTZ 31 Approval for Networking Rack Assembly

FTZ News: World Wide Technology wants permission to assemble networking racks inside a foreign-trade zone in Illinois, according to a notice published this week by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board.

The America’s Central Port District, which administers Foreign-Trade Zone 31, filed the request on behalf of the St. Louis-area technology company. The filing, received Oct. 5, covers WWT’s facilities in Edwardsville. Under the proposal, the company would bring in foreign-status components — high-speed data networking switches, ethernet switches, network management appliances, direct-attach copper cable assemblies and optical transceiver modules — and use them to produce finished networking racks.

All of the listed materials and the finished racks would enter duty-free, the notice says. Some of the components, however, could still be subject to Section 232 or Section 301 duties depending on their country of origin. In those cases, the merchandise would have to be admitted in privileged foreign status, locking in the duty rate at the time of entry into the zone.Public comments on the notification are due by Dec. 9. Submissions go to the Board’s executive secretary at [email protected].

Foreign-trade zone production authority lets companies defer, reduce or eliminate duties on imported inputs used in U.S. manufacturing or assembly, provided the activity stays within the limits the Board eventually approves. The Edwardsville filing is limited to the specific components and finished networking racks listed in the notice./.