19 U.S.C. § 81A
Section 81a · Definitions
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case Conoco, Inc. v. United States Foreign-Trade Zones Board (1994)
Most recently applied in King Maker Mktg., Inc. v. United States (May 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
When used in this chapter—
(a) The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Commerce;
(b) The term “Board” means the Board which is established to carry out the provisions of this chapter. The Board shall consist of the Secretary of Commerce, who shall be chairman and executive officer of the Board, and the Secretary of the Treasury;
(c) The term “State” includes any State, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico;
(d) The term “corporation” means a public corporation and a private corporation, as defined in this chapter;
(e) The term “public corporation” means a State, political subdivision thereof, a municipality, a public agency of a State, political subdivision thereof, or municipality, or a corporate municipal instrumentality of one or more States;
(f) The term “private corporation” means any corporation (other than a public corporation) which is organized for the purpose of establishing, operating, and maintaining a foreign-trade zone and which is chartered under special Act enacted after June 18, 1934, of the State or States within which it is to operate such zone;
(g) The term “applicant” means a corporation applying for the right to establish, operate, and maintain a foreign-trade zone;
(h) The term “grantee” means a corporation to which the privilege of establishing, operating, and maintaining a foreign-trade zone has been granted;
(i) The term “zone” means a “foreign-trade zone” as provided in this chapter.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1996—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104–201, §910(1), substituted “and the Secretary of the Treasury” for “the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of War”.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–201, §910(2), struck out “Alaska, Hawaii,” after “Columbia,”.
Short Title
This chapter is popularly known as the “Foreign Trade Zones Act”.
Floor Stocks Tax Treatment of Articles in Foreign Trade Zones
Notwithstanding this chapter, articles located in a foreign trade zone on the effective date of increases in tax under specific amendments by Pub. L. 101–508 subject to floor stocks taxes under certain circumstances, see section 11218 of Pub. L. 101–508, set out as a note under section 5001 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.