---
kind: "section"
citation: "19 U.S.C. § 81o"
title: "19"
title_heading: "Customs Duties"
number: "81o"
heading: "Residents of zone"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/19/81o"
units:
  - "Chapter 1A — Foreign Trade Zones"
---

# §81o. Residents of zone

- (a) **Persons allowed to reside in zone—** No [person](/usc/19/1683.md?p=8) shall be allowed to reside within the [zone](/usc/19/81a.md?p=i) except Federal, [State](/usc/19/81a.md?p=c), or municipal officers or agents whose resident presence is deemed necessary by the [Board](/usc/19/81a.md?p=b).
- (b) **Rules and regulations for employees entering and leaving zone—** The [Board](/usc/19/81a.md?p=b) shall prescribe rules and regulations regarding employees and other [persons](/usc/19/1683.md?p=8) entering and leaving the [zone](/usc/19/81a.md?p=i). All rules and regulations concerning the protection of the revenue shall be approved by the [Secretary](/usc/19/81a.md?p=a) of the Treasury.
- (c) **Exclusion from zone of goods or process of treatment—** The [Board](/usc/19/81a.md?p=b) may at any time order the exclusion from the [zone](/usc/19/81a.md?p=i) of any goods or process of treatment that in its judgment is detrimental to the public interest, health, or safety.
- (d) **Retail trade within zone—** No retail trade shall be conducted within the [zone](/usc/19/81a.md?p=i) except under permits issued by the [grantee](/usc/19/81a.md?p=h) and approved by the [Board](/usc/19/81a.md?p=b). Such permittees shall sell no goods except such domestic or duty-paid or duty-free goods as are brought into the [zone](/usc/19/81a.md?p=i) from customs territory.
- (e) **Exemption from State and local ad valorem taxation of tangible personal property—** Tangible personal property imported from outside the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) and held in a [zone](/usc/19/81a.md?p=i) for the purpose of storage, sale, exhibition, repackaging, assembly, distribution, sorting, grading, cleaning, mixing, display, manufacturing, or processing, and tangible personal property produced in the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) and held in a [zone](/usc/19/81a.md?p=i) for exportation, either in its original form or as altered by any of the above processes, shall be exempt from [State](/usc/19/81a.md?p=c) and local ad valorem taxation.

## Source credit

(June 18, 1934, ch. 590, § 15, 48 Stat. 1002; Pub. L. 98–573, title II, § 231(b)(1), Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2991.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1984—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 98–573 added subsec. (e).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1984 Amendment

Pub. L. 98–573, title II, § 231(b)(2), Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2991, provided that: “The amendment made by paragraph (1) [amending this section] shall take effect on January 1, 1983.”