The first thing to do before proceeding to analyze the term that concerns us now is to determine its etymological origin. Thus, it is established that the first word that forms it emanates from Latin and specifically from the word zone which in turn comes from the Greek and can be translated as "belt" or "girdle."
The second word, frank, on the other hand has its etymological origin in the fráncico Frank which can be determined which means "free."
A free zone is a specific geographical area that is destined for industrialization for export purposes . It is a space of the territory of a National state where customs legislation is applied in differentiated form or not applicable , so that goods of foreign origin can enter and remain or be transformed without being subject to the normal tax regime.
In addition to all of the above, we can also establish that, at times, the free zone is considered synonymous with free port. A clear allusion thus to the similarity they maintain with the known ports free of customs fees.
The entry and exit of merchandise in a free zone is usually considered as import and export respectively. The permanence of the products within the area can be indefinite, since there are no deadlines for their extraction or withdrawal.
Usually in free zones they are carried out storage, commercial, service and industrial activities , in the latter case only for export, with the exception of those of capital goods that do not record production records in the general customs territory or in the special customs areas.
In the case of Mercosur For example, the member countries apply the current tariff to third countries to goods that come from free zones. In the relevant cases, the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in terms of safeguard clauses and subsidies.
The largest free zone in the West is located in Colon , in Panama . In Argentina , there are free zones in Silver (Buenos Aires ), Cordova , Mendoza , Tucumán , Santa Fe , Commodore Rivadavia (Chubut ) and saint Louis . In Spain , there are free zones in Barcelona and in Cádiz .
In the case of Cádiz, the free zone it owns is characterized in that it exists from parking lots, business centers or industrial estates and warehouses, passing through different types of land.
However, in the case of Spain we can also talk about other cities and provinces that have their respective free zone. This would be the case, for example, of the Galician city of Vigo and also of the Canary archipelago where we find the free zone of Tenerife and also the free zone of Gran Canaria.
Specifically, that of the island of Tenerife has its origin in the second half of the 19th century, in 1852, when a Royal Decree was published that established the proclamation of free ports in this and other areas of the Spanish territory.
