The United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Commission, has ruled on the position that bearing manufacturer SKF Aeroengine France should be considered the successor company to SNFA France for tariff and duty purposes.

The final decision is in the Federal Register here: 5251R9N7 Doc. E9-13493, 74 FR 27280.

In 1989, the USITC established antidumping and countervailing duty orders on ball bearings from France, which included the high-precision bearings from SNFA. Those duties have been in place ever since.

SKF acquired SNFA in July 2006, with little fanfare and no anticompetitive objections.

article: SKF acquires SNFA
In March 2007, SNFA France, SKF France, and SKF Aerospace France requested a review to determine if SNFA should be considered the successor to SKF France, or if the USITC would somehow consider SNFA as its own successor company.

As the investigation was progressing, however, that antidumping duty order on ball bearings from France came up for review, and involved SKF France. Accordingly, the USITC decided to hold off on making a determination in that case until it had determined if SKF would be the successor company to SNFA.

The USITC finally initiated this latest "changed circumstances" review at the end of March 2009, more than two years later. Back in September 2007, SKF had changed SNFA's name to SKF Aeroengine France. No other interested party submitted comments or requested action during that time.

Essentially, the ITC investigates and weighs a number of factors as to whether the new company operates as the same business entity as the former company, with respect to the production and sale of the products covered by the antidumping orders.

The ITC has now issued its findings, and in fact ruled as expected -- that SKF Aeroengine France is essentially SNFA manufacturing bearings under a new name under new ownership.

SKF provided documentation that SKF Aeroengine was SNFA with no changes in management, production facilities, product mix, sales channels, supplier base, or customer base. And SKF Aeroengine's Managing Director certified that there are no plans to change the production facilities or any other aspect of the business. Moreover, there are no plans to further integrate SKF Aeroengine production with SKF France or SKF Aerospace France.