[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 39 (Monday, February 28, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page ]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-4505]


[Federal Register: February 28, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-427-801, A-428-801, A-475-801, A-588-804, A-559-801, A-401-801 A-
549-801, A-412-801]


Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and 
Parts Thereof From France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, 
Thailand, and the United Kingdom; Preliminary Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Reviews, Partial Termination of Administrative 
Reviews, and Notice of Intent To Revoke Orders (in Part)

AGENCY: International Trade Administration/Import Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of antidumping duty 
administrative reviews, partial termination of administrative reviews, 
and notice of intent to revoke order (in part).

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

SUMMARY: In response to requests from interested parties, the 
Department of Commerce has conducted administrative reviews of the 
antidumping duty orders on antifriction bearings (other than tapered 
roller bearings) and parts thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, 
Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. The classes or 
kinds of merchandise covered by these orders are ball bearings, 
cylindrical roller bearings, and spherical plain bearings. The reviews 
cover 38 manufacturers/exporters and the period May 1, 1992, through 
April 30, 1993 (the POR). Although we initiated reviews for nine other 
manufacturers/exporters, we are terminating the reviews because the 
requests for these reviews were withdrawn in a timely manner. As a 
result of these reviews, the Department has preliminarily determined 
the weighted-average dumping margins for the reviewed firms to range 
from 0.37 percent to 132.25 percent for BBs, from zero to 51.82 percent 
for CRBs, and from zero to 92.00 percent for SPBs.
    We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary 
results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 28, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The appropriate case analyst, for the 
various respondent firms listed below, at the Office of Antidumping 
Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; Telephone: (202) 482-4733.

France

Jacqueline Arrowsmith (SNR), Kris Campbell (SNFA), Joseph Hanley (SKF, 
Rollix Defontaine), David Levy (Hoesch Rothe Erde), Philip Marchal 
(Franke & Heydrich), or Michael Rill.

Germany

Kris Campbell (FAG), Joseph Hanley (Rollix Defontaine), David Levy (NTN 
Kugellagerfabrik, INA, Hoesch Rothe Erde), Philip Marchal (SKF, Franke 
& Heydrich), Charles Riggle (Fichtel & Sachs, GMN), or Michael Rill.

Italy

Charles Riggle (Meter), Joseph Hanley (SKF, FAG), or Michael Rill.

Japan

Carlo Cavagna (Honda, Nachi), William Czajkowski (Takeshita), Michael 
Diminich (NSK), J. David Dirstine (Koyo), Joseph Fargo (Nankai Seiko), 
David Levy (NTN), Michael Panfeld (IKS, NPBS), or Richard Rimlinger.

Singapore

Joanna Schlesinger (NMB/Pelmec), or Richard Rimlinger.

Sweden

Philip Marchal (SKF), or Michael Rill.

Thailand

Joanna Schlesinger (NMB/Pelmec), or Richard Rimlinger.

United Kingdom

Jacqueline Arrowsmith (RHP/NSK), Kris Campbell (Barden/FAG), or Michael 
Rill.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On May 15, 1989, the Department of Commerce (the Department) 
published in the Federal Register (54 FR 20909) the antidumping duty 
orders on ball bearings (BBs), cylindrical roller bearings (CRBs) and 
spherical plain bearings (SPBs) and parts thereof from France, Germany, 
Italy, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
    Specifically, these orders cover BBs, CRBs, and SPBs from France, 
Germany, and Japan; BBs and CRBs from Italy, Sweden, and the U.K.; and 
BBs from Singapore and Thailand. On June 28, 1993, in accordance with 
19 CFR 353.22(c)(1993), we initiated administrative reviews of those 
orders for the period May 1, 1992, through April 30, 1993 (58 FR 
34563). The Department is now conducting these administrative reviews 
in accordance with section 751 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Tariff Act). These reviews cover the following firms and classes 
or kinds of merchandise: 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Name of firm                        Class or kind         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 France                                 
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Franke & Heydrich KG....................  BBs                           
Hoesch Rothe Erde AG....................  BBs                           
Rollix Defontaine, S.A..................  BBs                           
SKF Compagnie d'Applications Mecaniques,  BBs, CRBs, SPBs               
 S.A. (SKF).                                                            
SNFA....................................  BBs, CRBs                     
SNR Roulements (SNR)....................  BBs, CRBs                     
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Germany                                 
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAG Kugelfischer Georg Schaefer KGaA      BBs, CRBs, SPBs               
 (FAG).                                                                 
Fichtel & Sachs AG......................  BBs                           
Franke & Heydrich KG....................  BBs                           
Georg Mueller Nurnberg, AG (GMN)........  BBs                           
Hoesch Rothe Erde AG....................  BBs                           
INA Walzlager Schaeffler KG (INA).......  BBs, CRBs                     
NTN Kugellagerfabrik (Deutschland) GmbH   BBs,                          
 (NTN).                                                                 
Rollix Defontaine, S.A..................  BBs                           
SKF GmbH................................  BBs, CRBs, SPBs               
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 Italy                                  
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAG Italia S.p.A........................  BBs, CRBs                     
Meter, S.p.A............................  BBs, CRBs                     
SKF Industrie S.p.A.....................  BBs, CRBs                     
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 Japan                                  
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Bearing Corp....................  BBs, CRBs, SPBs               
Honda Motor Co., Ltd....................  BBs, CRBs, SPBs               
Izumoto Seiko Co., Ltd..................  BBs                           
Koyo Seiko Co...........................  BBs, CRBs, SPBs               
Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp....................  BBs, CRBs                     
Nankai Seiko Co.........................  BBs                           
Nippon Pillow Block Sales Company, Ltd.   BBs                           
 (NPBS).                                                                
NSK Ltd.................................  BBs, CRBs, SPBs               
NTN Corp................................  BBs, CRBs, SPBs               
Takeshita Seiko Co., Ltd................  BBs                           
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               Singapore                                
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NMB Singapore Ltd./Pelmec Ind. (Pte.)     BBs                           
 Ltd. (NMB/Pelmec).                                                     
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 Sweden                                 
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SKF Sverige.............................  BBs, CRBs                     
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Thailand                                
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NMB Thai Ltd./Pelmec Thai Ltd. (NMB/      BBs                           
 Pelmec).                                                               
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             United Kingdom                             
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barden Corp. (U.K.) Ltd./FAG (U.K.) Ltd.  BBs, CRBs                     
 (Barden/FAG).                                                          
RHP Bearings/NSK Bearings Europe, Ltd.    BBs, CRBs                     
 (RHP/NSK).                                                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Subsequent to the publication of our initiation notice, we received 
timely withdrawals of review requests for INA (France), SNECMA (France 
and Italy), Asahi Seiko (Japan), Fujino Iron Works (Japan), Tottori 
Yamakei Bearing Seisakusho (Japan), and Revolvo (U.K.). Because there 
were no other requests for review of these companies from any other 
interested parties, we are terminating the reviews with respect to 
these companies, in accordance with 19 CFR 353.22(a)(5).
    On January 13, 1994, GMN also requested that the Department allow 
GMN to withdraw its request for review and terminate the review of the 
order on BBs from Germany with respect to GMN. Although its request to 
withdraw was submitted well after the deadline for doing so, GMN 
claimed that the circumstances of the firm's bankruptcy rendered it 
unable to proceed further with the review. After giving careful 
consideration to GMN's circumstances, we find that it would be 
inappropriate to terminate the review. GMN's request to terminate the 
review was submitted during the verification process, which is an 
advanced stage of the review process, and at a point at which it had 
become clear that the company would be unable to complete verification 
successfully. Furthermore, a domestic interested party objected to 
termination of the review at that stage. Therefore, we are not 
terminating the review of GMN.
    In addition, we initiated reviews for SST Bearing Corp. (SST), and 
Peer International (Peer) with respect to subject merchandise from 
Japan. SST informed us that it neither produced AFBs in Japan nor 
exported Japanese-produced bearings to the United States. Peer informed 
us that although it is a reseller of Japanese-made bearings, all of its 
suppliers had knowledge at the time of sale that the merchandise was 
destined for the United States. Consequently, Peer is not a reseller as 
defined in 19 CFR 353.2(s) because its sales cannot be used to 
calculate the U.S. price. Therefore, we are preliminarily terminating 
the reviews with respect to SST and Peer. If we obtain any information 
that contradicts these companies' assertions, we will complete the 
reviews with respect to these companies.

Best Information Available

    In accordance with section 776(c) of the Tariff Act, we have 
preliminarily determined that the use of best information available 
(BIA) is appropriate for certain firms. The Department's regulations 
provide that we may take into account whether a party refuses to 
provide information in determining what is the best information 
available (19 CFR 353.37(b)). For purposes of these reviews and in 
accordance with past Commerce practice, we have used the most adverse 
BIA--generally the highest rate for any company for the class or kind 
of merchandise from the same country from this or any prior segment of 
the proceeding, including the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) 
investigation--whenever a company refused to cooperate with the 
Department or otherwise significantly impeded the proceeding. When a 
company substantially cooperated with our requests for information, but 
failed to provide all information requested in a timely manner or in 
the form requested, we used as BIA the higher of (1) the highest rate 
(including the ``all others'' rate) ever applicable to the firm for the 
same class or kind of merchandise from the same country from either the 
LTFV investigation or a prior administrative review; or (2) the highest 
calculated rate in this review for any firm for the class or kind of 
merchandise from the same country (see Final Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Reviews and Revocation in Part of an Antidumping 
Duty Order, 58 FR 39728 (July 26, 1993)).
    Because Franke & Heydrich, General Bearing Corp., and SNFA failed 
to respond to the Department's questionnaire, we have used the highest 
rate ever found for each relevant class or kind of merchandise and 
country of origin. Also, because GMN had substantially cooperated with 
our requests for information, but was unable to complete verification, 
we used as BIA its highest previous rate, in this case the rate from 
the LTFV investigation.

Intent to Revoke

    The following firms have submitted requests, in accordance with 19 
CFR 353.25(b), to revoke the orders covering the indicated merchandise:

Spherical plain bearings from France--SKF
Ball bearings from Germany--NTN Kugellagerfabrik and GMN
Cylindrical roller bearings from Italy--SKF
Spherical plain bearings from Japan--NTN and Honda
Ball bearings from Japan--Honda
Cylindrical roller bearings from Japan--Honda

    In accordance with 19 CFR 353.25(a)(2)(iii), these requests were 
accompanied by certifications from the firms that they had not sold the 
relevant class or kind of merchandise at less than fair value for a 
three-year period including this review period, and will not do so in 
the future. Each of these firms also agreed to its immediate 
reinstatement in the relevant antidumping orders, as long as it is 
subject to those orders, if the Department concludes under 19 CFR 
353.22(f) that, subsequent to revocation, it sold the subject 
merchandise at less than fair value.
    In the two prior reviews of these orders, we determined that SPBs 
from France sold by SKF, BBs from Germany sold by NTN Kugellagerfabrik 
and GMN, CRBs from Italy sold by SKF, and BBs, CRBs, and SPBs from 
Japan sold by Honda were not sold at less than fair value. In this 
review, we preliminarily determine that these firms, with the exception 
of NTN Germany and GMN, have not sold these products at less than fair 
value, which will satisfy the three-year period of no sales at less 
than fair value, if these preliminary findings are affirmed in our 
final results. Therefore, we intend to revoke the orders with respect 
to the following firms and merchandise:

Spherical plain bearings from France--SKF
Cylindrical roller bearings from Italy--SKF
Spherical plain bearings from Japan--Honda
Ball bearings from Japan--Honda
Cylindrical roller bearings from Japan--Honda

    With respect to SPBs from Japan sold by NTN and BBs from Germany 
sold by NTN and GMN, we have not established that there has been a 
three-year period of sales at not less than fair value. The final 
results of the previous administrative review indicated the existence 
of dumping margins on NTN's sales of SPBs from Japan (see Final Results 
of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews and Revocation in Part of an 
Antidumping Duty Order, 58 FR 39729, July 26, 1993). In addition, we 
preliminarily determine in this review that there are dumping margins 
on NTN's sales of BBs from Germany. Therefore, we do not intend to 
revoke the orders on SPBs from Japan with respect to NTN or on BBs from 
Germany with respect to NTN.
    Concerning GMN, as BIA, (see ``Best Information Available'' section 
above), we have preliminarily determined that dumping margins exist on 
GMN's sales of BBs from Germany during the 1992-93 review period. 
Furthermore, on February 10, 1994, the company withdrew its request for 
revocation. Therefore, we do not intend to revoke the order on BBs from 
Germany with respect to GMN.

Scope of Reviews

    The products covered by these reviews are antifriction bearings 
(other than tapered roller bearings), and parts thereof (AFBs), and 
constitute the following ``class or kinds'' of merchandise:
    1. Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof: These products include all 
antifriction bearings that employ balls as the rolling element. Imports 
of these products are classified under the following categories: 
antifriction balls, ball bearings with integral shafts, ball bearings 
(including radial ball bearings) and parts thereof, and housed or 
mounted ball bearing units and parts thereof.
    Imports of these products are classified under the following 
Harmonized Tariff Schedules (HTS) subheadings: 4016.93.10, 4016.9350, 
8482.99.05, 8482.99.35, 8708.70.6060, 8708.93.6000, 8708.99.3100, 
8708.99.4000, 8708.99.4960, 8708.5800, 8708.99.8015, 8708.99.8080.
    2. Cylindrical Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof: These products 
include all AFBs that employ cylindrical rollers as the rolling 
element. Imports of these products are classified under the following 
categories: antifriction rollers, all cylindrical roller bearings 
(including split cylindrical roller bearings) and parts thereof, and 
housed or mounted cylindrical roller bearing units and parts thereof.
    Imports of these products are classified under the following HTS 
subheadings: 4016.93.10, 4016.9350, 8482.99.25, 8482.99.6530, 
8482.99.6560, 8708.99.4000, 8708.99.4960, 8708.99.8080.
    3. Spherical Plain Bearings and Parts Thereof: These products 
include all spherical plain bearings that employ a spherically shaped 
sliding element.
    Imports of these products are classified under the following HTS 
subheadings: 8483.30.40, 8483.30.80, 8483.90.20, 8483.90.30, 
8485.90.00, 8708.99.50.
    The size or precision grade of a bearing does not influence whether 
the bearing is covered by the order. The HTS item numbers are provided 
for convenience and Customs purposes. The written descriptions remain 
dispositive.

United States Price

    In calculating United States price (USP), the Department used 
purchase price (PP) or exporter's sales price (ESP), as defined in 
section 772 of the Tariff Act, as appropriate.
    Due to the extremely large number of transactions that occurred 
during the POR and the resulting administrative burden involved in 
calculating individual margins for all of these transactions, we 
sampled sales to calculate USP, in accordance with section 777A of the 
Tariff Act. When a firm made more than 2,000 ESP sales transactions to 
the United States for a particular class or kind of merchandise, we 
reviewed ESP sales which occurred during sample weeks. We selected one 
week from each two-month period in the review period, for a total of 
six weeks, and analyzed each transaction made in those six weeks. The 
sample weeks included May 31-June 6, 1992; July 26-August 1, 1992; 
October 18-24, 1992; November 22-28, 1992; February 14-20, 1993; and 
April 18-24, 1993. We reviewed all PP sales transactions during the POR 
because there were few PP sales.
    United States price was based on the packed f.o.b., c.i.f., or 
delivered price to unrelated purchasers in, or for exportation to, the 
United States. We made deductions, as appropriate, from PP and ESP for 
movement expenses, discounts and rebates.
    We made additional deductions from ESP for direct selling expenses, 
indirect selling expenses, and repacking in the United States.
    We made an addition to USP for value-added taxes (VAT) in 
accordance with section 772(d)(1)(C) of the Tariff Act. In making our 
adjustment for VAT, we followed the instructions of the United States 
Court of International Trade (CIT) in Federal Mogul Corp. and The 
Torrington Co. v. United States, Slip Op. 93-194 (CIT October 7, 1993). 
The Department added to USP the result of multiplying the foreign 
market tax rate by the price of the United States merchandise at the 
same point in the chain of commerce that the foreign market tax was 
applied to foreign market sales. The Department also adjusted the tax 
amount calculated for USP and the amount of tax included in foreign 
market value (FMV). We deducted the portions of the foreign market tax 
and the USP tax that are the result of expenses that are included in 
the foreign market price used to calculate foreign market tax and in 
the United States price used to calculate the USP tax. Because these 
expenses are later deducted to calculate FMV and USP, these adjustments 
are necessary to prevent our new methodology for calculating the USP 
tax from creating dumping margins where no margins would exist if no 
taxes were levied upon foreign market sales.
    With respect to subject merchandise to which value was added in the 
United States, e.g., parts of bearings that were imported and further 
processed into finished bearings by U.S. affiliates of foreign 
exporters, prior to sale to unrelated U.S. customers, we deducted any 
increased value in accordance with section 772(e)(3) of the Tariff Act.
    Those bearings otherwise subject to the order that are incorporated 
into nonbearing products, which collectively comprise less than one 
percent of the value of the finished products sold to unrelated 
customers in the United States, are not subject to the assessment of 
antidumping duties. In Roller Chain, Other Than Bicycle, from Japan (48 
FR 51801; November 14, 1983), roller chain, which was subject to an 
antidumping duty order, was imported by a related party and 
incorporated into finished motorcycles. The finished motorcycles were 
the first articles of commerce sold by the subject producer to 
unrelated purchasers in the United States. Because the roller chain did 
not constitute a significant percentage of the value of the completed 
product, the Department found that a USP could not reasonably be 
determined for the roller chain. The Department, therefore, did not 
assess dumping duties on these transactions. We have applied this same 
principle to these reviews.

Foreign Market Value

    The home market was viable for all companies and all classes or 
kinds of merchandise. The Department used home market prices or 
constructed value (CV), as defined in section 773 of the Tariff Act, as 
appropriate, to calculate foreign market value (FMV).
    Due to the extremely large number of transactions that occurred 
during the POR and the resulting administrative burden involved in 
examining all of these transactions, we sampled sales to calculate FMV, 
in accordance with section 777A of the Tariff Act. When a firm had more 
than 2,000 home market sales transactions for a particular class or 
kind of merchandise, we used sales from sample months that corresponded 
to the sample weeks selected for U.S. sales sampling plus one 
contemporaneous month prior to the POR and one following the POR. The 
sample months included March, June, July, October, and November of 
1992, and February, April, and June of 1993.
    In general, the Department relies on monthly weighted-average 
prices in the calculation of FMV in administrative reviews. Because of 
the significant volume of home market sales involved in these reviews, 
we examined whether it was appropriate to average, in accordance with 
section 777A of the Tariff Act, all of each respondent's home market 
sales on an annual basis. In this case, the use of POR weighted-average 
prices results in significant time and resource savings for the 
Department. To determine whether a POR weighted-average price was 
representative of the transactions under consideration, we performed a 
three-step test.
    We first compared each monthly weighted-average home market price 
for each model with the weighted-average POR price of that model. We 
calculated the proportion of each model's sales whose POR weighted-
average price did not vary meaningfully (i.e., was within plus or minus 
10 percent) from the monthly weighted-average prices. We did this for 
each model within each class or kind of merchandise. We then compared 
the volume of sales of all models within each class or kind of 
merchandise whose POR weighted-average price did not vary meaningfully 
from the monthly weighted-average price with the total volume of sales 
of that class or kind of merchandise. If the POR weighted-average price 
of at least 90 percent of sales in each class or kind of merchandise 
did not vary meaningfully from the monthly weighted-average price, we 
considered the POR weighted-average prices to be representative of the 
transactions under consideration. Finally, we tested whether there was 
any correlation between fluctuations in price and time for the home 
market sales. Where the correlation coefficient was less than 0.05 
(where a coefficient approaching 1.0 means a direct relation between 
price and time, i.e., that prices consistently rise from month to 
month, and a coefficient approaching zero means no relation between 
prices and time), we concluded that there was no significant relation 
between price and time. We calculated a weighted-average POR FMV only 
for those classes or kinds that satisfied our three-step test for the 
factors of price, volume, and time.
    We compared U.S. sales with sales of such or similar merchandise in 
the home market. We considered all non-identical products within a 
bearing family to be equally similar. As defined in the questionnaire, 
a bearing family consists of all bearings within a class or kind of 
merchandise that are the same in the following physical 
characteristics: load direction, bearing design, number of rows of 
rolling elements, precision rating, dynamic load rating, and outer 
diameter, inner diameter, and width.
    Home market prices were based on the packed, ex-factory or 
delivered prices to related or unrelated purchasers in the home market. 
Where applicable, we made adjustments for movement expenses, 
differences in cost attributable to differences in physical 
characteristics of the merchandise, and differences in packing. We also 
made adjustments for differences in circumstances of sale in accordance 
with 19 CFR 353.56. For comparisons to PP sales, we deducted home 
market direct selling expenses and added U.S. direct selling expenses. 
For comparisons to ESP sales, we deducted home market direct selling 
expenses. We also made adjustments, where applicable, for home market 
indirect selling expenses to offset U.S. commissions in PP and ESP 
calculations and to offset U.S. indirect selling expenses deducted in 
ESP calculations, but not exceeding the amount of the indirect U.S. 
expenses. For comparisons to both ESP and PP sales, we adjusted for VAT 
using the methodology detailed in the ``United States Price'' section 
of this notice.
    We used sales to related customers only where we determined such 
sales were made at arm's length, i.e., at prices comparable to prices 
at which the firm sold identical merchandise to unrelated customers.
    Where we found home market sales below the cost of production in 
the previous administrative review period, we concluded that reasonable 
grounds exist to believe or suspect that home market sales during the 
POR were made at prices below the cost of production, and we therefore 
initiated cost investigations.
    In accordance with section 773(b) of the Tariff Act, in determining 
whether to disregard home market sales made at prices below the cost of 
production, we examined whether such sales were made in substantial 
quantities over an extended period of time. When less than 10 percent 
of the home market sales of a particular model were at prices below the 
cost of production, we found that substantial quantities of such sales 
were not made and did not disregard any sales of that model. When 10 
percent or more, but not more than 90 percent, of the home market sales 
of a particular model were determined to be below cost, we determined 
that substantial quantities of such sales were made and excluded the 
below-cost home market sales from our calculation of FMV provided that 
these below-cost sales were made over an extended period of time. When 
more than 90 percent of the home market sales of a particular model 
were made below cost over an extended period of time, we disregarded 
all home market sales of that model from our calculation of FMV and 
went to CV.
    To determine if sales below cost had been made over an extended 
period of time, we compared the number of months in which sales below 
cost had occurred for a particular model to the number of months in 
which the model was sold. If the model was sold in three or fewer 
months, we did not find that below-cost sales were made over an 
extended period of time unless there were sales below cost of that 
model in each month. If a model was sold in more than three months, we 
did not find that below-cost sales were made over an extended period of 
time unless there were sales below cost in at least three of the months 
in which the model was sold.
    Since none of the respondents has submitted information indicating 
that any of its sales below cost were at prices which would have 
permitted ``recovery of all costs within a reasonable period of time in 
the normal course of trade,'' within the meaning of section 773(b)(2) 
of the Tariff Act, we were unable to conclude that the costs of 
production of such sales were recovered within a reasonable period. As 
a result, we disregarded below-cost sales when the conditions described 
above were met.
    Home market sales of obsolete merchandise and distress sales were 
not disregarded in our cost analysis unless there was documented 
information on the record demonstrating that such sales were outside 
the ordinary course of trade.
    With respect to FAG Germany, we disregarded certain sales reported 
by the company in its home market database. The disregarded sales 
pertain to two unrelated German resellers of FAG bearings. Although FAG 
reported that it did not know whether these resellers sold its bearings 
in Germany or abroad, we preliminarily determine, based on the 
following information obtained at verification, that FAG, at a minimum, 
should have known that the two resellers would export its bearings.
    At verification, we found that FAG referred, both orally and in its 
records, to these resellers as ``indirect exporters.'' We learned that 
one FAG subsidiary sold to one of these resellers from its export price 
list, rather than from its domestic price list. Finally, we contacted 
one of the resellers independently and were told that it only sells in 
export markets and that its suppliers were aware of this.
    During verification, we inquired of other German producers/
exporters about potential sales to ``indirect exporters.'' We did not 
obtain conclusive evidence that reported home market sales were in fact 
export sales. However, if we obtain additional information indicating 
that other producers reported home market sales that we ultimately 
conclude were export sales, we will delete these sales from their home 
market databases.
    In accordance with section 773(a)(2) of the Tariff Act, we used 
constructed value as the basis for FMV when there were no usable sales 
of such or similar merchandise for comparison.
    We calculated CV in accordance with section 773(e) of the Tariff 
Act. We included the cost of materials, fabrication, general expenses, 
profit and packing. To calculate CV we used: (1) actual general 
expenses, or the statutory minimum of 10 percent of materials and 
fabrication, whichever was greater; (2) actual profit or the statutory 
minimum of 8 percent of materials, fabrication costs and general 
expenses, whichever was greater; and (3) packing costs for merchandise 
exported to the United States. Where appropriate, we made adjustments 
to CV in accordance with 19 CFR 353.56, for differences in 
circumstances of sale. For comparisons to PP sales, we deducted home 
market direct selling expenses and added U.S. direct selling expenses. 
For comparisons to ESP sales, we deducted home market direct selling 
expenses. We also made adjustments, where applicable, for home market 
indirect selling expenses to offset U.S. commissions in PP and ESP 
calculations. For comparisons involving ESP transactions, we made 
further deductions for constructed value for indirect selling expenses 
in the home market, capped by the indirect selling expenses incurred on 
ESP sales in accordance with 19 CFR 353.56(b)(2).

Preliminary Results of Reviews

    As a result of our reviews, we preliminarily determine the 
weighted-average dumping margins (in percent) for the period May 1, 
1992 through April 30, 1993 to be: 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   Company                       BBs      CRBs    SPBs  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
France:                                                                 
  Franke & Heydrich..........................    66.42    (\2\)    (\2\)
  Hoesch Rothe Erde..........................    (\1\)    (\2\)    (\2\)
  Rollix Defontaine..........................    (\1\)    (\2\)    (\2\)
  SKF........................................     3.12    (\1\)     0.00
  SNFA.......................................    66.42    18.37    (\2\)
  SNR........................................     3.31     2.58    (\2\)
Germany:                                                                
  FAG........................................    17.46    14.24    17.54
  Fichtel & Sachs............................    11.71    (\2\)    (\2\)
  Franke & Heydrich..........................   132.25    (\2\)    (\2\)
  GMN........................................    35.43    (\2\)    (\2\)
  Hoesch Rothe Erde..........................    (\1\)    (\2\)    (\2\)
  INA........................................    29.81     9.14    (\2\)
  NTN........................................     9.06    (\1\)    (\1\)
  Rollix Defontaine..........................    (\1\)    (\2\)    (\2\)
  3SKF.......................................    28.41    27.45    60.23
Italy:                                                                  
  FAG........................................     3.08    (\1\)         
  Meter......................................     1.22    (\1\)         
  SKF........................................     3.71     0.00         
Japan:                                                                  
  General Bearing............................   106.61    51.82    92.00
  Honda......................................     0.37     0.01     0.01
  IKS........................................    27.96    (\2\)    (\2\)
  Koyo.......................................    12.19     5.34      (1)
  Nachi......................................    28.27     4.33    (\2\)
  Nankai Seiko...............................     1.08    (\2\)    (\2\)
  NPBS.......................................    18.32    (\2\)    (\2\)
  NSK........................................    27.17    20.42    (\1\)
  NTN........................................     5.09     2.34     0.01
  Takeshita..................................    14.58    (\2\)    (\2\)
Singapore:                                                              
  NMB/Pelmec.................................     4.84                  
Sweden:                                                                 
  SKF........................................    16.00     1.85         
Thailand:                                                               
  NMB/Pelmec.................................     0.37                  
United Kindgom:                                                         
  Barden/FAG.................................     4.86     8.22         
  RHP/NSK....................................    16.01   18.40          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1No U.S. sales during the review period.                                
2No review requested.                                                   

    Parties to this proceeding may request disclosure within 5 days of 
the date of publication of this notice. Any interested party may 
request a hearing within 10 days of the date of publication of this 
notice. A general issues hearing, if requested, and any hearings 
regarding issues related solely to specific countries, if requested, 
will be held in accordance with the following schedule and at the 
indicated locations in the main Commerce building:
Italy--March 28, 1994; 9:00 am; room 1617-M-4
General Issues--March 28, 1994; 1:00 pm; room 4830
Thailand--March 29, 1994; 9:00 am; room 1617-M-1
Singapore--March 29, 1994; 10:30 am; room 1617-M-1
Germany--March 29, 1994; 2:00 pm; room 1617-M-4
Japan--March 30, 1994; 9:00 am; room 1617-M-1
United Kingdom--March 30, 1994; 2:00 pm; room 1617-M-1
France--March 31, 1994; 9:00 am; room 1617-M-4
Sweden--March 31, 1994; 1:00 pm; room 1617-M-4
    Issues raised in hearings will be limited to those raised in the 
respective briefs or written comments, and rebuttal briefs or rebuttals 
to written comments. Briefs or written comments from interested 
parties, and rebuttal briefs or rebuttals to written comments, limited 
to the issues raised in the respective case briefs and comments, may be 
submitted not later than the dates shown below for general issues and 
the respective country-specific cases. The Department will subsequently 
publish the final results of these administrative reviews, including 
the results of its analysis of issues raised in any such written 
comments or hearings. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       Briefs/comments                  
                Case                        due          Rebuttals due  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Issues......................  Mar. 16, 1994...  Mar. 23, 1994   
Italy...............................  Mar. 16, 1994...  Mar. 23, 1994   
Thailand............................  Mar. 17, 1994...  Mar. 24, 1994   
Singapore...........................  Mar. 17, 1994...  Mar. 24, 1994   
Germany.............................  Mar. 17, 1994...  Mar. 24, 1994   
Japan...............................  Mar. 18, 1994...  Mar. 25, 1994   
U.K.................................  Mar. 18, 1994...  Mar. 25, 1994   
France..............................  Mar. 21, 1994...  Mar. 28, 1994   
Sweden..............................  Mar. 21, 1994...  Mar. 28, 1994   
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Department shall determine, and the Customs Service shall 
assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. Because sampling 
prevents calculation of duties on an entry-by-entry basis, we will 
calculate an importer-specific ad valorem duty assessment rate for each 
class or kind of merchandise based on the ratio of the total value of 
antidumping duties calculated for the examined sales made during the 
POR to the total customs value of the sales used to calculate those 
duties. This rate will be assessed uniformly on all entries of that 
particular importer made during the POR. (This is equivalent to 
dividing the total value of antidumping duties, which are calculated by 
taking the difference between statutory FMV and statutory USP, by the 
total statutory USP value of the sales compared, and adjusting the 
result by the average difference between USP and customs value for all 
merchandise examined during the POR.)
    Where we do not have entered customs value to calculate an ad 
valorem rate, we will calculate an average per-unit dollar amount of 
antidumping duty based on all sales examined during the POR. We will 
instruct the Customs Service to assess this average amount on all units 
included in each entry made by the particular importer during the POR. 
The Department will issue appropriate appraisement instructions 
directly to the Customs Service upon completion of these reviews.
    Furthermore, the following deposit requirements will be effective 
for all shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the 
final results of these administrative reviews, as provided by section 
751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act: (1) the cash deposit rates for the 
reviewed companies will be those rates established in the final results 
of these reviews; (2) for previously reviewed or investigated companies 
not listed above, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the 
company-specific rate published for the most recent period; (3) if the 
exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the 
original LTFV investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit 
rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the 
manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all 
other manufacturers or exporters will continue to be the ``all others'' 
rate made effective by the final results of the most recent 
administrative reviews of the orders (see Final Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Reviews and Revocation in Part of an Antidumping 
Duty Order, 58 FR 39729, July 26, 1993). As noted in those previous 
final results, these rates are the ``all others'' rates from the 
relevant LTFV investigations. These deposit requirements, when imposed, 
shall remain in effect until publication of the final results of the 
next administrative reviews.
    This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of 
their responsibility under 19 CFR 353.26 to file a certificate 
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation 
of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply 
with this requirement could result in the Secretary's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.
    These administrative reviews and notice are in accordance with 
section 751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(1) and 19 C.F.R. 
353.22(c)(5)).

    Dated: February 18, 1994.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 94-4505 Filed 2-25-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P