Description

An "Export Processing Zone" (EPZ) in simple terms can be defined as an industrial zone with special incentives, set up to attract foreign investors, in which imported material underwent some degree of processing before being exported again". EPZ can be viewed as a clearly delineated industrial estate, which constitutes a free trade enclave in the customs and trade regime of the country, and where foreign manufacture finns producing mainly for export, benefit from certain factors and tlnancial incentives . However, the above given definitions are not concrete and there are many exceptions. Some Export Processing Zones may not be demarcated by physical boundaries as in cases where free trade applies throughout the countries, such as in the city states of Singapore and Hong Kong (previously), which are EPZs in themselves. Similarly China's 'Special Economic Zones' are on such a large scale that they seem to evade the above definition of EPZ' . The words 'SEZ' and 'EPZ' are used synonymously in this Study.