Advantages:

• No customs duty or excise tax. No customs duty or excise tax is paid on goods in a Foreign Trade Zone until they are shipped out of the zone for consumption in the United States.

• May be exported free of duty and tax. Goods may be exported without any customs duties or taxes levied on them.

• No quotas for goods. There are no quotas in zones, so goods shipped into the zone in excess of a U.S. quota may be held there without penalty until the next quota period.

• Indefinite zone storage. Indefinite zone storage encourages quantity purchases to obtain purchase and transportation discounts and allows distribution as market conditions warrant.

• Duty-free sampling and testing. Merchandise may be sampled and tested for quality before payment of duties. Goods which are found to have impurities or excessive waste or which are otherwise sub-standard may be repaired or discarded before assessment of duty. In addition, goods that shrink, evaporate or otherwise lose weight while in the zone are assessed according to the time-of-distribution weight.

• Duty not paid until goods enter U.S. territory. Operating capital is available longer because duty is not paid until goods enter into a U.S. territory.