[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 73 (Thursday, April 16, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18877-18878]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-10040]


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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  ........
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(\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