free zone
5
4.1
- noun
- Specialized
:
zona franca
- Many manufacturers take advantage of the free zone to export their products without additional fees.
- nuclear-free zone
- free zone status
Examples
-
The three Jamaican free zones provide their corporate occupants with tax-free and duty-free concessions in perpetuity.
Academic text (1998) -
To establish these joint ventures, their locations have been declared free zones, granting them valuable tax and customs concessions.
Academic text (2000) -
Asian companies tend to operate exclusively within the free zones.
Academic text (1998) -
The declaration of a customs-free zone in Port Said also attracted many returnees and new migrants.
Academic text (2005) -
The new free zone at the port allows companies to store goods without paying customs duties.
-
Investors are encouraged to set up businesses in the free zone to benefit from tax exemptions.
Synonyms
1
4.1
A part of a port where businesses bring, store, and send goods without paying taxes
A port where goods arrive and leave without paying import taxes
A port or warehouse that stores goods and sends them on, often without import taxes
Antonyms
- Formal
1
8.8
A government building where officials check goods, collect taxes, and allow ships into a country
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an area where goods are stored without payment of customs duties' is directly derivable from combining 'free' (without charge/exempt) with 'zone' (a region), so a learner who knows both words can infer that this is an area exempt from charges. The concept is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish zona franca, French zone franche) and follows regular English compounding, making it immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.
Etymology
The noun free zone comes from places by a port where goods were kept free from customs inside a special zone. That's why free zone now means an area where goods can be stored 'without paying customs duties' before they are sent out of the country.