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The U.S. Foreign Trade Zones program was created by the Foreign Trade Zones Act of 1934. This act was created to "expedite and encourage foreign commerce" in the United States.
Today, there are more than 230 Foreign Trade Zone Projects in the United States. The New Jersey Foreign Trade Zone (NJFTZ) at the ITC is one of them.

For customs purposes, the NJFTZ is treated as though it were located outside the United States.

• You can import goods or components into the NJFTZ without paying duties at that time. You can then warehouse, assemble, manufacture, package, test, grade, clean, mix, process and exhibit merchandise here.
• You can even join foreign and domestic parts here.
• Duties are paid only when goods or products are shipped to U.S. destinations. And no duty is payable on shipments to foreign destinations. The result is a whole menu of ways to save money.

Depending on the nature of your business, you may defer payment and reduce or completely eliminate U.S. duties.
What's more there's a whole host of intangible benefits. Many companies in FTZs find that their inventory control systems run more efficiently, increasing their competitiveness.
FTZ users also find that in meeting their FTZ reporting responsibilities to the U.S. government, they are eligible to take advantage of special customs procedures such as direct delivery and weekly entry. These procedures expedite the movement of cargo, thereby supporting just-in-time inventory methodologies.
We'd be happy to give you a professional analysis of the actual cost savings your business might expect.

1. Import, Duty-Free. Importers may be admitted and held in a foreign-trade zone without paying U.S. Customs duties.
   
2. Choose Your Rate. FTZ users can choose to pay the duty rate on either the component material or on merchandise produced from component material - whichever is lower.
   
3. Free Zone-to-Zone Transfer. No duty is owed on FTZ merchandise transferred in-bound, zone to zone.
   
4. Free Labor Overhead and Profit. In calculating the dutiable value on foreign merchandise removed from a zone, no duties are owed on labor, overhead or profit attributed to production in an FTZ.
   
5. Save Taxes. By federal statute, tangible personal property imported from outside the U.S. and held in a zone, as well as that produced in the U.S. and held in a zone for exportation, are not subject to state and local ad valorem taxes.
   
6. Avoid Quotas. Merchandise subject to quota, with the permission of the Foreign Trade Zone Board, may be substantially transformed in a FTZ to a non-quota article that may then be entered into U.S. Customs territory, free of quota restrictions.
   
7. Eliminate Duty on Re-exports. If the imported merchandise is exported back out of the country, no customs duty is ever due.
   
8. Eliminate Duty on Waste, Scrap and Yield Loss. This can mean substantial savings if you have scrap, waste or yield loss from imported components.
   
9. Eliminate Drawbacks. In some instances, customs duties previously paid on exported on exported merchandise may be refunded through a process called drawback.
   
10. Weekly Entry Savings. Under Weekly Entry procedures, a zone user files only one customs entry per week rather than one per shipment. The savings can really add up.