Designed to encourage foreign investment and international trade, businesses operating within these zones have no tax on their profits, and are exempted from customs duties on imports and exports (capital goods, raw materials, construction materials, and office equipment) and import licensing requirements.
The program has been expanded to include information technology, with addition clauses added to the act in 1996.
Since 1995 the industry has been in a serious depression due to structural problems in Jamaica and increased foreign competition.
World Trade Organization rule changes agreed at the Doha Development Round will end export subsidies in 2007.
The 2001 documentary film Life and Debt features interviews with free zone workers, as well as with several prominent critics such as Michael Manley (the former Prime Minister of Jamaica), that support this view.