Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and Parts Thereof From France, et al.; Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-427-801, A-428-801, A-475-801, A-588-804, A-485-801, A-559-801, A-

401-801, A-549-801, A-412-801]

Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and

Parts Thereof From France, et al.; Amended Final Results of Antidumping

Duty Administrative Reviews

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of final court decision and amended final results of

administrative reviews.

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SUMMARY: On December 12, 1996, the United States Court of International

Trade affirmed the Department of Commerce's final remand results

affecting final assessment rates for the third administrative reviews

of the antidumping duty orders on antifriction bearings (other than

tapered roller bearings) and parts thereof from France, Germany, Italy,

Japan, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

The classes or kinds of merchandise covered by these reviews are ball

bearings and parts thereof, cylindrical roller bearings and parts

thereof, and spherical plain bearings and parts thereof. As there is

now a final and conclusive court decision in these actions (with the

exceptions of SKF GmbH, SKF Industrie S.p.A. and SKF Sverige AB which

have filed appeals to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit), we

are amending our final results of reviews and we will instruct the U.S.

Customs Service to liquidate entries subject to these reviews with the

exception of those still under appeal.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 16, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg Thompson or Jay Biggs, Import

Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of

Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

20230; telephone (202) 482-0410 or (202) 482-1690.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of

1930, as amended (the Tariff Act), are references to the provisions in

effect as of December 31, 1994. In addition, unless otherwise

indicated, all citations to the Department of Commerce's (the

Department's) regulations are to the regulations as codified at 19 CFR

Part 353 (April 1, 1997).

Background

On July 26, 1993, the Department published its final results of

administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders on antifriction

bearings (other than tapered roller bearings) and parts thereof from

France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand,

and the United Kingdom, covering the period May 1, 1991 through April

30, 1992 (AFBs III) (58 FR 39729). These final results were amended on

August 9, 1993, September 30, 1993, December 15, 1993 and February 28,

1994 (see 58 FR 42288, 58 FR 51055, 58 FR 65576 and 59 FR 9469,

respectively). The classes or kinds of merchandise covered by these

reviews are ball bearings and parts thereof (BBs), cylindrical roller

bearings and parts thereof (CRBs), and spherical plain bearings and

parts thereof (SPBs). Subsequently, two domestic producers, the

Torrington Company and Federal-Mogul, and a number of other interested

parties filed lawsuits with the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT)

challenging the final results. These lawsuits were litigated at the CIT

and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC).

In the course of this litigation, the CIT and CAFC issued a number of

orders and opinions, of which the following have resulted in changes to

the antidumping margins calculated in AFBs III:

Federal-Mogul Corporation and the Torrington Company v. United

States, Slip Op. 96-37, (February 13, 1996) with respect to France,

Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, and the United

Kingdom;

Koyo Seiko Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. Nos. 93-1525, 93-1534

(September 30, 1994) with respect to Japan;

NSK Ltd. and NSK Corporation v. United States, Slip Op. 94-175

(November 14, 1994) with respect to Japan;

NSK Ltd. and NSK Corporation v. United States, Slip Op. 94-181

(November 28, 1994) with respect to Japan;

NSK Ltd. v. United States, Slip Op. 96-125 (August 5, 1996) with

respect to Japan;

SKF USA Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 95-82 (May 4, 1995) with

respect to Italy;

SKF USA Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 96-13 (January 10, 1996)

with respect to France;

SKF USA Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 96-15 (January 16, 1996)

with respect to Italy;

SKF USA Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 96-16 (January 16, 1996)

with respect to Sweden;

FAG Kugelfischer Georg Schafer KgaA., FAG Italia S.p.A, FAG (U.K.)

Limited, Barden Corporation Limited, FAG Bearings Corporation and The

Barden Corporation v. United States, Slip Op. 96-108 (July 10, 1996)

with respect to Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom;

INA Walzlager Schaeffler KG and INA Bearing Company, Inc. v. United

States, Slip Op. 96-26 (January 29, 1996) with respect to Germany;

SNR Roulements v. United States, Slip Op. 98-6 (January 23, 1998)

with respect to France;

Federal-Mogul Corporation and the Torrington Company v. United

States, Slip Op. 96-193 (December 12, 1996)

[[Page 18878]]

with respect to France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand;

Federal-Mogul Corporation and the Torrington Company v. United

States, Slip Op. 97-9 (January 22, 1997) with respect to Japan.

In the context of the above-cited litigation, the CIT (in some

cases based on decisions by the CAFC) ordered the Department to make

methodological changes and to recalculate the antidumping margins for

certain firms under review. Specifically, the CIT ordered the

Department inter alia to: (1) Change its methodology for computing

inventory carrying costs; (2) reallocate NSK's advertising expenses;

(3) deny an adjustment to foreign market value (FMV) for home-market

pre-sale freight expenses where FMV was calculated using purchase

price; (4) develop a methodology which removes post-sale price

adjustments and rebates paid on sales of out-of-scope merchandise from

its calculations of FMV or, if no viable method can be developed, deny

such an adjustment in its calculation of FMV; (5) reconsider its

decision to accept NTN's downward adjustments to United States indirect

selling expenses for interest paid on cash deposits; (6) determine

whether NTN demonstrated that selling expenses for aftermarket

customers were different than for distributors and OEMs and, if not,

collapse sales to aftermarket customers and distributors to form a

single level of trade; (7) provide a reasonable explanation as to why

the Department changed its findings in the original investigation that

NMB/Pelmec's ``Route B'' sales are third-country sales or, if none can

be given, exclude these sales from the home-market database; (8)

determine whether NMB/Pelmec's related-party sales were made at market

prices and, if not, exclude such sales from its calculation of profit;

and (9) correct various clerical errors.

On December 12, 1996, the CIT affirmed the Department's final

remand results affecting final assessment rates for all the above cases

(except the reviews involving SKF which are still subject to further

litigation). See Federal-Mogul Corporation and the Torrington Company

v. United States, Slip Op. 96-193 (December 12, 1996). As there are now

final and conclusive court decisions in these actions, we are amending

our final results of review in these matters, with the exception of

those cases which are still under appeal, and we will subsequently

instruct the Customs Service to liquidate entries subject to these

reviews.

Amendment to Final Results

Pursuant to section 516A(e) of the Tariff Act, we are now amending

the final results of administrative reviews of the antidumping duty

orders on antifriction bearings (other than tapered roller bearings)

and parts thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania,

Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, except for those

cases still under appeal, for the period May 1, 1991, through April 30,

1992. The revised weighted-average margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Company BBs CRBs SPBs

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRANCE

SKF......................................... 1.97 (\1\) (\3\)

SNR......................................... 1.13 0.81 (\2\)

GERMANY

FAG......................................... 11.83 17.63 (\3\)

Fichtel & Sachs............................. (\3\) (\2\) (\2\)

INA......................................... 23.19 (\3\) (\2\)

NTN......................................... (\3\) (\1\) (\1\)

ITALY

FAG......................................... 5.36 (\3\) ........

JAPAN

Koyo........................................ 8.28 3.19 (\3\)

Nachi....................................... 7.59 (\3\) (\2\)

NPB......................................... 7.90 (\2\) (\2\)

NTN......................................... 2.94 0.73 6.41

NSK......................................... 17.85 27.09 (\1\)

Singapore

NMB/Pelmec.................................. 8.54 ........ ........

THAILAND

NMB/Pelmec.................................. 0.17 ........ ........

UNITED KINGDOM

Barden Corporation.......................... 7.57 (\3\) ........

FAG......................................... 21.77 (\3\) ........

RHP-NSK..................................... 50.32 45.61 ........

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(\1\) No U.S. sales during the review period.

(\2\) No review requested.

(\3\) No rate change for a class or kind due to litigation.

Accordingly, the Department will determine and the U.S. Customs

Service will assess appropriate antidumping duties on entries of the

subject merchandise made by firms covered by these reviews. Individual

differences between United States price and foreign market value may

vary from the percentages listed above. The Department has already

issued appraisement instructions to the Customs Service for certain

companies whose margins have not changed from those announced in AFBs

III and the three previous amendments. For companies covered by these

amended results, the Department will issue appraisement instructions to

the U.S. Customs Service after publication of these amended final

results of reviews.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with

sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

Dated: April 7, 1998.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 98-10040 Filed 4-15-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P