What are the differences between free zones, export processing zones, enterprise zones, duty free shops, and U.S. foreign-trade zones?
Free zones — Allow merchandise to enter an area for storage and be exported or entered into the host country.
Export processing zone (EPZ) — EPZs are duty-free zones dedicated to manufacturing for export. No duties are charged for entry of raw materials, components, machinery, equipment, and supplies used to produce manufactured goods provided these are then exported.
Enterprise zones — Encourage new industrial and commercial activity in economically depressed areas by removing most zoning, taxation, and federal and local business regulations from carefully defined districts.
Duty free shops — Retail shops, usually at airport or border locations, where an importer has brought in certain items for resale to travelers, who then take these goods out of the country, without either being required by the host country to pay taxes and duties, or paying less tax and duty than importers selling the merchandise domestically.
U.S. foreign-trade zones — Are treated, for the purposes of the tariff laws and CBP entry procedures, as being outside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Territory of the United States. Under FTZ procedures, foreign and domestic merchandise may be admitted into zones for operations such as storage, exhibition, assembly, manufacture and processing, without being subject to formal CBP entry procedures, the payment of duties or the payment of federal excise taxes. When merchandise is removed from a foreign-trade zone, duties may be eliminated if the goods are then exported from the United States. If the merchandise is formally entered into U.S. commerce, duties and excise taxes are due at the time of transfer from the foreign-trade zone.
Source: National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones