Foreign Trade Zone #71 approved for new program

According to the Town of Windsor Locks Economic and Industrial Development Commission (EIDC), Grantee of Foreign Trade Zone #71, the U.S. Foreign Trade Zone Board has approved an application to authorize the zone as an alternative site framework location. The program allows for a broader scope of potential locations, in addition to the original site in Crown Industrial Park, and the recent expansion to an additional 390-acre site owned by Griffin Land in Windsor and East Granby, Conn. The new program extends potential use of new Zone sites to Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, Tolland and Windham Counties, up to a total of 2,000 acres in aggregate. This application and the previous processes of establishing and expanding the zone included considerable investment by 3rd parties and the input of the original grantee, site owners, and municipal CEOs. As part of the program, new users pay an initial access fee of only $7,500 and an annual fee of $5,000 thereafter. As per FTZ regulations, these fees are used to cover the costs of maintaining and administering FTZ #71. Windsor Locks first selectman, Steve Wawruck, said, "With the growth of Bradley International Airport and the importance of the world economy on our own state and regional economies, this new tool will help companies in the region to grow and prosper." The Foreign Trade Zone program has existed since 1934, and Windsor Locks went through the process to established FTZ #71 in 1981. It has had periodic use, most recently as the location of an inventory of industrial machines for a local manufacturer representing a foreign producer of lathes. In this instance and many others, it allows U.S. based companies to generate more exports and jobs by creating an environment where they can compete with foreign suppliers on a level playing field. FTZs are sites where duties and quotas can be managed to allow for the use of U.S. labor and logistics infrastructure while deferring the duties owed until the goods are actually sold in the U.S. The FTZ program has played a significant part in the recent National Export Initiative, which seeks to significantly increase the amount of product that the United States exports. From the NAFTZ.org website: The value of exports from America's Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZs) increased by 13.7% in 2013, to a record-high $79.5 billion in merchandise exported, according to figures released by the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board in its Annual Report to Congress.