Applications, hearings, determinations, etc.: Abbot Laboratories, Inc.; pharmaceutical facilities,

[Federal Register: December 29, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 249)]

[Notices]

[Page 71617-71618]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr29de98-30]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 58-98]

Foreign-Trade Zone 22--Chicago, Illinois; Expansion of Manufacturing Authority--Subzone 22F; Abbott Laboratories, Inc., Facilities (Pharmaceuticals) Chicago, IL

An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the Illinois International Port District, grantee of FTZ 22, requesting authority on behalf of the Abbott Laboratories, Inc. (Abbott), to expand the scope of manufacturing authority under zone procedures at the Abbott facilities in the Chicago, Illinois, area. It was formally filedon December 17, 1998.

Subzone 22F was approved by the Board in 1992 at four sites (791 acres) of the Abbott manufacturing and research complex in North Chicago, and adjacent Lake County, Illinois: Site 1 (75 buildings/2.4 million sq. ft. on 140 acres)--North Chicago manufacturing, administrative, and laboratory facilities.

[[Page 71618]]

14th Street and Sheridan Road, North Chicago; Site 2 (28 buildings/3.6 million sq. ft. on 480 acres)--Abbott Park manufacturing, administrative and laboratory facilities, One Abbott Park Road, Lake County; Site 3 (129 acres)--Jennett site, undeveloped tract with urban zoning, Atkinson Road, Lake County; and Site 4 (4 buildings/369,000 sq. ft. on 42 acres)--Skokie site, manufacturing, administrative, research facilities, 22nd Street, North Chicago. Authority was granted for the manufacture of three products indicated in its original application: clarythromycin, temafloxin, timethoxybenzene (Board Order 611, 57 FR 61045, 12/23/92).

Abbott is now proposing to expand the scope of authority for manufacturing activity conducted under FTZ procedures at Subzone 22F to include a wider range of pharmaceuticals and their intermediates, medicaments and laboratory and medical instruments and appliances. The facility (with some 10,000 employees) produces finished pharmaceutical products, primarily anti-infectives, cardiovascular agents, anti-AIDS treatments, and anti-cancer agents, as well as laboratory and medical appliances and devices. At the outset, the company is expecting to manufacture the following under zone procedures: aminosyn, an intravenous nutritional (HTSUS 3004.90.1000); valproic acid, an anti- epileptic agent (HTSUS 2915.90.1400); clarithromycin, an anti-infective (HTSUS 3003.90.0000); and, ABT378, an anti-AIDS protease inhibitor (HTSUS 3004.90.9010). Foreign-sourced materials for these products include L-threonine (HTSUS 2922.50.5000), L-lysine (HTSUS 2922.41.0090), L-tryptophan (HTSUS 2933.90.7900), diethyl dipropyl malonate (HTSUS 2917.19.7050), hydroxylamine (HTSUS 2825.10.000), 2,6- dimethyl-henoxyacetic acid (HTSUS 2918.90.4300), wing A acid (HTSUS 2933.59.7000), and wing B acid (HTSUS 2933.59.9500), and will account for, on average, 16 percent of material value.

The company may also purchase from abroad ingredients and materials in the following general categories: gums, starches, waxes, vegetable extracts, mineral oils, sugars, empty capsules, protein concentrates, prepared animal feed, mineral products, inorganic acids, chlorides, chlorates, sulfites, sulfates, phosphates, cyanides, silicates, radioactive chemicals, rare-earth metal compounds, hydroxides, hydrazine and hydroxylamine, chlorides, phosphates, carbonates, hydrocarbons, alcohols, phenols, ethers, epoxides, acetals, aldehydes, ketone function compounds, mono- and polycarboxylic acids, phosphoric esters, amine-, carboxymide-, nitrile- and oxygen-function compounds, heterocyclic compounds, sulfonamides, insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides and herbicides, fertilizers, vitamins, hormones, antibiotics, gelatins, enzymes, pharmaceutical glaze, essential oils, albumins, gelatins, activated carbon, residual lyes, acrylic polymers, color lakes, soaps and detergents, various packaging and printing materials, medicaments, pharmaceutical products, and instruments and appliances used in medical sciences.

FTZ procedures would exempt Abbott from Customs duty payments on the foreign components used in export activity (currently some 10% of shipments). On its domestic sales, the company would be able to elect the duty rate that applies to finished products (duty-free) for the foreign components noted above (duty rates ranging from duty-free to 16.3%, with most between 3.7% and 12.3%+2.2 cents/kg.). The application indicates that the savings from FTZ procedures will help improve Abbott's international competitiveness.

Public comment on the application is invited from interested parties. Submissions (original and three copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing period for their receipt is March 1, 1999. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to March 16, 1999).

A copy of the application will be available for public inspection at the following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, 55 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603 Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230.

Dated: December 17, 1998. Dennis Puccinelli, Acting Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98-34470Filed12-28-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P