Glossary: Industrial Free Zone(s)
DEFINITION:
Also known as free trade zones, or free zones, these industrial parks played host to manufacturing firms that benefited from favorable business conditions extended by a given government in an effort to attract foreign investment and to create jobs. In the Dominican Republic, free-zone enterprises paid no duties on goods directly imported into, or exported from, the free zone. These enterprises also enjoyed exemptions from Dominican taxes for up to twenty years, and they were allowed to pay workers less than the established minimum wage.