Agathon Associates Assists with New Hampshire’s Foreign-Trade Zone #81 Reorganization

On November 8, 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) Board issued Order No. 2073, approving the reorganization of FTZ #81, Pease Development Authority (PDA), Portwmouth, New Hampshire, under the Alternate Site Framework (ASF) regulations.

The PDA engaged the services of professional trade consulting companies, Foreign Trade Zones Solutions, LLC and Agathon Associates to assist in the preparation and filing of the application. The application was docketed with the FTZ Board January 30, 2018 and the Board Order was published in the Federal Register on Thursday November 15, 2018.

The new service area includes the Counties of Rockingham, Strafford, Carroll (partial), Belknap (partial), Cheshire, Hillsborough, Merrimack (partial), Sullivan and Grafton (partial), in and adjacent to the Portsmouth Customs and Border Protection Port of Entry. Existing sites are (1) the Market Street Marine Terminal, (2) Portsmouth Industrial Park, (4) Manchester Airport and (5) Pease International Tradeport and categorized as "Magnet Sites" and existing site (6) Londonderry, is categorized as a "Usage Driven Site". Potential users of the FTZ can now utilize its benefits within approximately 30 days from the time an application is accepted for filing. Under the previous "Traditional Site Framework" (TSF), applications took up to a year for approval.

The Foreign-Trade Zones Act of 1934 was passed to provide financial incentive to companies that would have operated offshore, to locate within the United States, thereby creating jobs and stimulating the economy. Foreign-Trade Zones are areas designated by the FTZ Board and are under the supervision of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. For the purpose of assessment and collection of import duties, foreign imported merchandise entered into a zone is considered not to have entered the commerce of the United States and, therefore, duties are not paid while the merchandise remains at the site. Depending on the final disposition of merchandise, duty deferral, duty reduction and/or duty elimination are potential zone benefits.

The Grant of Authority for FTZ #81 was issued in 1982 to the New Hampshire Port Authority, now the Pease Development Authority Division of Ports and Harbors. Because the Traditional Site Framework was restricted to specific site locations, approval of any proposed activity beyond the sites was complex and lengthy, taking up to a year following application. The FTZ Board, at the recommendation of the FTZ staff, adopted the Alternate Site Framework regulations in January 2009. The ASF gives Grantees more flexibility to respond to the needs of companies to whom FTZ’s may be beneficial.