San Francisco Foreign Trade Zone 3 What

San Francisco Foreign Trade Zone #3

What is a Foreign Trade Zone? n n n Designated areas in or near a U. S. Customs Port of entry Goods brought into the zone with special customs procedures Considered as outside of U. S. commerce Allows foreign and domestic merchandise to engage in international trade-related activities Promotes U. S. participation in trade and commerce

Why Companies use Foreign Trade Zones n n n Weekly Customs entry savings Duty deferral until import is delivered from zone Duty elimination on waste, scrap, and yield loss Duty elimination on rejected or defective parts Duty elimination on domestic content or value added, including labor, overhead and profits

Why Companies use Foreign Trade Zones n n n Duty elimination on sales to the U. S Military or NASA Duty elimination on re-exports Relief from inverted tariffs

Foreign Trade Zones allow imported merchandise to be: n n n n n Manufactured Assembled Manipulated Processed Repaired Stored Sold Consolidated Tested n n n n n Cleaned Calibrated Relabeled Sampled Mixed Inspected Commingled Salvaged Destroyed

Why use San Francisco’s Foreign Trade Zone #3? San Francisco is an international hub for: n n Clean/Green Technology IT and Digital Media Biotech, Life Science and Health Care Venture Capital Visionaries Local resources: n n n The Mission Bay Biotech Cluster Proposed Clean Technology Campus China. SF

Geographic Scope of FTZ #3 General Purpose Zones: n n 60 miles or 90 minutes driving distance from Port San Francisco and San Mateo Counties Subzones: n No geographic restrictions Oakland San Jose also have FTZs

Recent Activities n n n Reorganized Foreign Trade Zone Applied for new Alternative Site Framework Program (ASF) Application accepted late 2010 Valero Energy Corporation has applied for Subzone for Benicia Refinery Developed Web page at sfport. com

Marketing Strategies n “Take Foreign Trade Zone to the Cargo” n Outreach to other agencies • • n Outreach to Business Community • • • n Office of Economic & Workforce Development SFO Airport China. SF Port of Redwood City Importers/Exporters/Manufacturers/Distributors Chambers of Commerce Economic Development Offices Advertising/Marketing Presence

Tax Incentives n n SF Clean Technology Payroll Tax Exemption SF Enterprise Zone (EZ) Payroll Tax Credit SF Biotechnology Payroll Tax Exemption California Enterprise Zone (EZ) Tax Credits & Incentives

Tax Incentives n n California New Jobs Tax Credit Federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Federal Historic Preservation Tax Credit Federal Renewal Community (RC) Tax Credits & Incentives