FOREIGN TRADE ZONES 
The elimination of the customs restrictions applying directly to 
sntry and clearance of vessels and cargo and to the imposition of 
duties, makes it necessary to provide suitable barriers between the 
free zone and customs territory. Goods moving from the free zone 
into customs territory become subject to all of the laws affecting 
imports. It may be said, therefore, that neither the free port nor 
the foreign trade zone is wholly free to commerce and shipping, but 
is free only to the extent prescribed in each case. Some writers have 
referred to the free port as a zone which from a customs point of 
view occupies the same position as a foreign country, but in view of 
the limitations above indicated with respect to prohibited landings 
this definition is too broad. The definition given by the United 
States Tarif Commission in its report on Free Zones in the United 
States is as follows: 
A free zone may be defined as an isolated, inclosed and policed area, in or 
adjacent to a port of entry, without resident population, furnished with the 
necessary facilities for lading and unlading, for supplying fuel and ship's stores, 
for storing goods and for reshipping them by land and water; an area within 
which goods may be landed, stored, mixed, blended, repacked, manufactured, 
and reshipped without payment of duties and without the intervention of cus- 
toms officials. It is subject equally with adjacent regions to all the laws relating 
to public health, vessel inspection, postal service, labor conditions, immigration, 
and, indeed, everything except the customs. 
Parts of the above are applicable at all free ports, but the definition 
as a whole is inapplicable to many of them. As will be evident from 
data contained in this report, the facilities available and the opera- 
tions permitted at the various free ports of Europe differ widely. 
At some of them the area is too limited to permit certain of the 
operations referred to, while at others some of these operations are 
prohibited. The definition may be accepted, however, as a correct 
statement of the facilities provided and the various activities per- 
mitted at the free ports of the world considered collectively. In 
view of the wide differences in the physical conditions, the terminal 
developments, the presence or absence of railroad connections, the 
position of the port in national and international trade, and the 
requirements of national and local industries, it is manifestly imprac- 
ticable for all free ports to adopt a common plan of operation. The 
basic purpose of all, however, is the same, i. e., to facilitate the import 
and reexport of goods of foreign origin either in their original condition 
or with permissible changes of form. A definition applicable to all 
the principal free ports would have to be expressed in general terms, 
adhering quite closely to the major purposes, and omitting any state- 
ment of facilities. The following is an example of such a definition: 
A free port is a segregated area in which goods not otherwise prohibited may 
be unloaded and stored, subject to varying restrictions as to sorting, grading, 
repacking, manipulation, and manufacture, and in which such goods or authorized