Flagler County joins Northeast Florida’s Foreign Trade Zone

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The Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) announced on May 23, 2019 that Flagler County (FL) has joined Northeast Florida’s Foreign Trade Zone No. 64.

The addition now allows any company within Flagler County to apply to the U.S. Foreign Trade Zone Board for FTZ designation. It typically takes 30 days or less for approval after the Board accepts the application.

JAXPORT is the administrating agency for all users within Northeast Florida’s Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ No. 64). To add Flagler County, the United States Foreign Trade Zone Board recently approved JAXPORT’s application to reorganize FTZ No. 64 under the Alternative Site Framework.

“We are very pleased to join this Foreign Trade Zone,” said Helga van Eckert, Executive Director of Flagler County’s Department of Economic Opportunity. “Companies within Flagler County may now take full advantage of Jacksonville’s growing seaport and the economic benefits of operating within an FTZ.”

An FTZ is a physical location and may be as small as a single room within in a building, or as large as a warehouse or entire industrial park. An FTZ offers several potential benefits to users:

• Duty payments on imported goods and materials may be reduced or eliminated, or deferred until they leave the designated FTZ area and enter U.S. commerce
• Foreign goods may enter into FTZs without formal Customs entry for manufacturing, testing, assembly, processing, storage and distribution.
• Goods not entering U.S. commerce – for example, goods imported into a FTZ but then re-exported to another country – are not obligated to pay Customs duties. This eliminates onerous processes like duty drawback.
• Companies within the FTZ may also benefit financially from the Merchandise Processing Fee savings also known as the weekly entry benefit.

“JAXPORT looks forward to working with Flagler County and its business community,” said JAXPORT CEO Eric Green. “Partnering with neighboring counties to use the benefits of our FTZ to grow their business generates positive economic results for the region’s private sector.”

With the addition of Flagler County, FTZ 64 now encompasses nine counties in Northeast Florida. This includes Bradford and Columbia counties, as well as all seven counties within JAXUSA Partnership, Jacksonville’s regional economic development initiative: Baker, Clay, Flagler, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.