[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 176 (Monday, September 13, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49442-49444]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-23775]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-427-801, 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, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, 
and the United Kingdom; Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Reviews

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
United States Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of amended final results of administrative reviews.

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SUMMARY: The United States Court of International Trade and the United 
States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have affirmed the 
Department of Commerce's final remand results affecting final 
assessment rates for the administrative reviews of the antidumping duty 
orders on antifriction bearings (other than tapered roller bearings) 
and parts thereof from France, Italy, Japan, 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. The period of review is May 1, 1992, 
through April 30, 1993. As there is now a final and conclusive court 
decision in these cases (with the exception of the case on Japan for 
which certain decisions are on appeal 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: September 13, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Tabash or Robin Gray, AD/CVD 
Enforcement, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-5047 or (202) 482-4023, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the 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 
(1995).

Background

    On February 28, 1995, 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, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, and the 
United Kingdom, covering the period May 1, 1992, through April 30, 1993 
(AFBs 4). See Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller 
Bearings) and Parts Thereof From France, et al.; Final Results of 
Antidumping Duty

[[Page 49443]]

Administrative Reviews, Partial Termination of Administrative Reviews, 
and Revocation In Part of Antidumping Duty Orders, 60 FR 10900,10959 
(February 28, 1995). These final results were amended on March 31, 
1995, May 15, 1995, June 13, 1995, June 29, 1995, December 19, 1995, 
and August 8, 1997 (see 60 FR 16608, 60 FR 25887, 60 FR 31143, 60 FR 
33791, 60 FR 65264, and 62 FR 42745, 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). A 
domestic producer, the Torrington Company, and a number of respondent 
interested parties filed lawsuits with the United States 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 
4:
    The Torrington Company v. United States, Slip Op. 97-107 (CIT 
September 17, 1997) with respect to France;
    The Torrington Company v. United States, Slip Op. 97-136 (CIT 
September 19, 1997) with respect to Sweden;
    The Torrington Company v. United States, Slip Op. 97-29 (CIT March 
7, 1997) with respect to Sweden;
    NSK Ltd. v. United States, Slip Op. 95-163 (CIT September 25, 1995) 
with respect to Japan;
    NSK Ltd. v. United States, Slip Op. 97-154 (CIT November 20, 1997) 
with respect to Japan;
    NSK Ltd. v. United States, Slip Op. 98-34 (CIT March 24, 1998) with 
respect to Japan;
    FAG Italia S.p.A. and FAG Bearings Corporation; SKF USA Inc., and 
SKF Industrie S.p.A. v. United States et al. (FAG/SKF/Torrington), Slip 
Op. 96-187 (CIT November 22, 1996) with respect to Italy;
    The Torrington Company v. United States, Slip Op. 98-116 (CIT 
August 12, 1998) with respect to Singapore;
    The Torrington Company v. United States, Slip Op. 97-140 (CIT 
September 26, 1997) with respect to Thailand; the CAFC upheld the CIT 
on October 7, 1998, at 156 F. 3d 1361 (Fed. Cir. 1998);
    FAG U.K. et al v. United States, Slip Op. 97-77 (CIT June 18, 1997) 
with respect to the United Kingdom; the CAFC dismissed appeal number 
97-1550 on December 5, 1997.
    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 make the following changes on a company-
specific basis:
    SNR France--correct a ministerial error;
    SKF France--correct a ministerial error;
    Nachi Japan--correct a clerical error;
    NSK Japan--
    (1) correct a clerical error,
    (2) apply a tax-neutral methodology in computing the value-added 
tax adjustment,
    (3) deny the adjustment to foreign market value for NSK's return 
rebates and post-sale price adjustments, and
    (4) exclude NSK's zero-priced sample transfers from its U.S. sales 
database;
    IKS Japan--
    (1) correct the erroneous calculation of a negative United States 
price for certain observations and
    (2) correct the erroneous inclusion of movement expenses incurred 
in Japan in the calculation of movement expenses for further-
manufactured merchandise;
    FAG Italy--
    (1) use the approved tax-neutral methodology for adjusting for 
value-added taxes,
    (2) explain the circumstances in which it will apply the 
reimbursement regulation in an exporter's sales price (ESP) situation, 
and
    (3) correct the clerical error and recalculate FAG's margin to 
include margins for best information available sales;
    SKF Italy--
    (1) use the approved tax-neutral methodology for adjusting for 
value-added taxes,
    (2) explain the circumstances in which it will apply the 
reimbursement regulation in an ESP situation, and
    (3) correct a clerical error;
    NMB/Pelmec--recalculate NMB's constructed value (CV) and cost of 
production (COP) after allocating research and development costs of 
Minebea Co., Ltd., over total consolidated cost of sales;
    SKF Sweden--
    (1) treat Astra and Asea Brown Bovery as unrelated to SKF Sverige 
AB,
    (2) use a tax-neutral value-added tax methodology,
    (3) explain when the reimbursement regulation would apply in an ESP 
situation,
    (4) consider whether a company-specific arm's-length test is 
warranted and, if so, to apply such a test, and
    (5) to correct clerical errors in the computer program;
    NMB/Pelmec Thailand--
    (1) recalculate NMB's CV and COP after allocating research and 
development costs of Minebea Co., Ltd., over total consolidated cost of 
sales, and
    (2) correct the packing expense clerical error;
    FAG-Barden and NSK-RHP U.K.--
    (1) correct the clerical error with respect to FAG's U.S. sales,
    (2) use the approved tax-neutral methodology for adjusting for 
value-added taxes,
    (3) correct the clerical error in the conversion of insurance costs 
to dollars in cases in which the U.S. sales were already valued in 
dollars, and
    (4) correct a clerical error in the application of value-added tax 
to the HEDGE value.
    The CIT affirmed the Department's final remand results affecting 
final assessment rates for all the above cases (except the reviews 
involving certain Japanese companies which are still subject to further 
litigation). 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 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, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, and the 
United Kingdom, except for those cases still under appeal, for the 
period May 1, 1992, through April 30, 1993. The revised weighted-
average margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Company                        BBs    CRBs    SPBs
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     FRANCE
 
SKF.............................................    2.37     (1)   37.98
SNR                                                 1.89    2.58     (2)
 
                      ITALY
 
FAG.............................................    2.48     (1)  ......
SKF                                                 3.68    0.00  ......
 
                      JAPAN
 
IKS.............................................    4.65     (2)     (2)
Nachi...........................................   12.46    1.03     (2)
NSK                                                16.10   10.37     (1)
 
                    SINGAPORE
 
NMB/Pelmec......................................    4.70  ......  ......
 
                     SWEDEN
 
SKF.............................................   13.55   10.62  ......
 
                    THAILAND
 
NMB/Pelmec......................................    0.01  ......  ......
 

[[Page 49444]]

 
                 UNITED KINGDOM
 
FAG-Barden......................................    4.65    8.22  ......
NSK-RHP.........................................   14.49   20.03  ......
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 No U.S. sales during the review period.
2 No review requested.

    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 4 
and the 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.
    We are issuing and publishing this determination in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: September 1, 1999.
Richard W. Moreland,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 99-23775 Filed 9-10-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P