Free-Trade Zone, also called foreign-trade zone, formerly free port , an area within which goods may be landed, handled, manufactured or reconfigured, and reexported without the intervention of the customs authorities. Only when the goods are moved to consumers within the country in which the zone is located do they become subject to the prevailing custom duties. Free-trade zones are organized around major seaports, international airports, and national frontiers—areas with many geographic advantages for trade. Examples include Hong Kong, Singapore, Colón (Panama), Copenhagen, Stockholm, Gdańsk (Poland), Los Angeles, and New York City. Alternative devices such as the bonded warehouse and associated systems are used in some large seaports (e.g., London and Amsterdam).
The primary purpose of a free-trade zone is to remove from a seaport, airport, or border those hindrances to trade caused by high tariffs and complex customs regulations. Among the advantages of the system are the quicker turnaround of ships and planes through the reduction in formalities of customs examinations and also the ability to fabricate, refinish, and store goods freely.
(Source: Encyclopedia Britannica: Academic Edition)
So is this a place outside the legal system of its host country in terms of what can be brought into the ports or sent out (you mention the reductions in customs exams)? Perhaps these site can operate as a network of fringe spaces where anything goes through the context of moving freight...
ReplyDeleteTrue. These free trade zones have been created to help encourage international trade between nations by reducing the need for all the customs paper work. The issue however with this system is the fact that they use a moving freight context to sneak in illegal drugs by hiding them in an 'innocent' looking container or boxes.
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