Glossary of FTZ Terms
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FTZ… Foreign Trade Zone, a defined area, outside the Customs territory of the United States, where certain lawful activities can be conducted with a minimum of formalities.

National Foreign Trade-Zone Board... consists of the Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of the Army... is responsible for the establishment, maintenance, and administration of foreign-trade zones under the Foreign Trade Zones Act.

U.S. Customs Service... a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury responsiblefor carrying our the TariffAct and various other laws and regulations in respect toforeign-trade zones.

General Purpose Zone ... typically a multi-purpose warehouse or underground storage facility. It may house one large importing operation or several smaller ones, which have little or nothing to do with one another.

Special Purpose Subzone ... a manufacturing zone set up when it's unrealistic for large manufacturing companies to move operations into existing general purpose zones.

Grantee ... a corporation to which the privilege of establishing, operating, and maintaining a foreign-trade zone has been granted. The Grantee for Foreign Trade Zone #203 is the Port of Moses Lake.

0perator … a corporation, partnership, or person that operates a zone under the terms of an agreement with the grantee.

User ... a corporation, partnership, or party that uses a zone for storage, handling, processing, or manufacturing merchandise in zone status, whether foreign or domestic. Usually, the zone user is the party which requests a Customs permit to admit, process, or remove zone status merchandise. In subzones, the operator and user are usually the same party. Sometimes referred to as "tenants ".

Activation ... approval by the grantee and the U.S. Customs district director for operations and for the admission and handling of merchandise in zone status. Implies a measured area approved by the Board within the zone.

Application ... no particular form is required for an application for activation. A written request on the letterhead of the applicant will suffice. See applying for FTZ status.