WHAT IS AN SEZ ?
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A Special Economic Zone is an enclave within a country that is treated as foreign territory for the purpose of tariffs and duties. The units located in an SEZ do not have to pay customs duties on goods they import or local levies on goods brought from the rest of the country. SEZs have more liberal laws in relation to labour, foreign investment and so on then the rest of the country. The basis is to create a legal environment to boosts exports.
The first known instance of something like an SEZ was when Puerto Rico in 1947 established industrial parks to attract investment from US. Ireland and Taiwan set up their first SEZs in the 1960s but it was only after China set up SEZs in the 1980s – the most successful of them being Shenzhan – that the concept gained global acceptance.
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