RIDC was granted the charter to administer the Foreign Trade Zone program in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1977 when RIDC was involved in bringing Volkswagen to Westmoreland County.
Since then, many well-known companies have taken advantage of this economic development program, including Sony, Leedsworld, Mitsubishi and others.
An FTZ provides a secure and ‘neutral’ area outside the U.S. Customs territory. Users may bring certain products into the Zone under bond without formal Customs entry, payment of Customs duties or government excise taxes. When these products leave the Zone to enter the domestic marketplace, all applicable customs duties must be paid. If the products are exported out of the country, then no duty or taxes are ever paid on them.
Our Foreign Trade Zone is organized under the Alternative Site Framework and includes the following 11 counties in its Service Area: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland.
You can contact Jason Hobbes at RIDC to find out if your company would qualify for this duty deferral/duty savings federal program.
