Free trade zone

A free trade zone (FTZ), or free zone, is a designated area, often inside or adjacent to a port, where goods can be landed, stored, handled, manufactured, and re-exported without the usual customs duties and import procedures applying until the goods enter the domestic market. Duty is deferred, reduced, or avoided entirely on re-exports, which suits transhipment, assembly, and distribution hubs. The model is governed by national law within the WCO framework; Jebel Ali, Colon, and Shenzhen are large port-linked examples.