Foreign Trade Zone Application Notices


APPLICATION NOTICES:

Zone:007* Subzone Number:
Publication Date:08/03/2007Date Created:
Location:Caguas PRCompany:Merck, Sharpe & Dohme Quimica de Puerto Rico, Inc.
Status:CompletedDocket: 31-2007
Subject:FTZ 7-- Request for Manufacturing Authority, Merck Sharpe & Dohme Quimica de Puerto Rico Inc., (Pharmaceutical Manufacturing)
Comments:
Application:

BODY:

FR Doc E7-15166
[Federal Register: August 3, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 149)]
[Notices]
[Page 43233-43234]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03au07-39]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

Docket 31-2007


Foreign-Trade Zone 7-- Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Request for
Manufacturing Authority, Merck Sharpe & Dohme Quimica de Puerto Rico
Inc., (Pharmaceutical Manufacturing)

An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO),
grantee of FTZ 7, requesting authority

[[Page 43234]]

on behalf of Merck Sharpe & Dohme Quimica de Puerto Rico Inc. (MSDQ) to
conduct pharmaceutical manufacturing operations under FTZ procedures
within FTZ 7 at the MOVA Pharmaceutical Corporation (MOVA)
pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Caguas, Puerto Rico. The
application was filed on July 27, 2007.
The MOVA facilities (650 employees, 16 acres, buildings totaling
250,000 sq. ft, 40 percent of which is devoted to manufacturing) are
located on State Road 1, Km 34.8, within the Villa Blanca Industrial
Park in Caguas, Puerto Rico (Site 1, Parcel 2). MSDQ will act as the
operator within FTZ 7, with the manufacturing activity being contacted
by MOVA on behalf of MSDQ. The company has indicated that the square
footage of the buildings devoted to manufacturing operations could grow
to include up to 70 percent in the near future. MSDQ has requested
authority to manufacture two pharmaceutical products, MK-431A (HTSUS
3004.90) and sitagliptin (HTSUS 2933.59) for the U.S. market and
export. Duty rates on the finished products range from duty-free to 6.5
percent. Foreign components that would be used in the manufacturing
process (up to 25 percent of total content) include sitagliptin (HTSUS
2933.59), metformin hydrochloride (HTSUS 2925.20), enamine amide (HTSUS
2933.59) and butyl josphos (HTSUS 2931.00), with duty rates of 3.7 to
6.5 percent, ad valorem.
The application also requests authority to include a broad range of
inputs and finished pharmaceutical products that MSDQ may produce under
FTZ procedures in the future. (New major activity involving these
inputs/products would require review by the FTZ Board.) The duty rates
for these inputs and final products range from duty-free to 10 percent.
Zone procedures would exempt MSDQ from customs duty payments on the
foreign components used in export production to non-NAFTA countries.
Exports account for approximately 30 to 40 percent of production. On
domestic sales and sales to NAFTA countries, MSDQ could defer duty
until the products are entered for consumption or exported, and choose
the lower duty that applies to the finished product for the foreign
components used in production. The company would also realize certain
logistical savings related to zone-to-zone transfers and direct
delivery procedures as well as savings on materials that become scrap/
waste during manufacturing. The application indicates that FTZ-related
savings would help improve MSDQ and MOVA's international
competitiveness.
Public comment is invited from interested parties. Submissions
(original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the address below. The closing period for their receipt is
October 2, 2007. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to October 17, 2007).
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center, Centro
Internacional de Mercadeo, Tower II, Suite 102, Road 165, Guaynabo,
Puerto Rico, 00968-8058.
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Room 2111, 1401 Constitution Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20230.
For further information, contact Christopher Kemp at
Christopher_kemp@ita.doc.gov or (202) 482-0862.


Dated: July 30, 2007.
Andrew McGilvray,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7-15166 Filed 8-2-07; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P

2007