Commitments And Contingent Liabilities

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments And Contingent Liabilities

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

The Company, along with others in most cases, has been identified by the EPA or a comparable state environmental agency as a Potentially Responsible Party (“PRP”) at a number of sites and has recorded aggregate accruals of $6 for its share of estimated future remediation costs at these sites. The Company has been identified as having either directly or indirectly disposed of commercial or industrial waste at the sites subject to the accrual, and where appropriate and supported by available information, generally has agreed to be responsible for a percentage of future remediation costs based on an estimated volume of materials disposed in proportion to the total materials disposed at each site. The Company has not had monetary sanctions imposed nor has the Company been notified of any potential monetary sanctions at any of the sites.

The Company has also recorded aggregate accruals of $7 for remediation activities at various worldwide locations that are owned by the Company and for which the Company is not a member of a PRP group. Although the Company believes its accruals are adequate to cover its portion of future remediation costs, there can be no assurance that the ultimate payments will not exceed the amount of the Company’s accruals and will not have a material effect on its results of operations, financial position and cash flow. Any possible loss or range of potential loss that may be incurred in excess of the recorded accruals cannot be estimated.

The Company's Italian subsidiaries have received and expect to receive additional assessments for value added taxes and related income taxes from the Italian tax authorities resulting from certain third party suppliers' failures to remit required value added tax payments due by those suppliers under Italian law with respect to purchases for resale to the Company. The assessments cover tax periods 2004, 2005 and 2006 and additional assessments are expected to cover periods 2007 through 2009. The expected total assessments resulting from these third party suppliers failing to remit the tax payments are approximately €40 ($51 at September 30, 2012) plus any applicable interest and penalties which the Company estimates may be up to approximately €55 ($71 at September 30, 2012) . In early 2012, the Company received one favorable ruling and two unfavorable rulings from lower level Italian courts related to these assessments. The Company expects these rulings to be appealed. The Company continues to believe that, if necessary, it should be able to successfully dispute the assessments and demonstrate in the appropriate Italian courts that it has no additional liability for the asserted taxes and related interest and penalties. While the Company intends to dispute the assessments, there can be no assurance that it will be successful in such disputes or regarding the final amount of any additional taxes and related interest and penalties payable to the Italian tax authorities.

The Company and its subsidiaries are also subject to various other lawsuits and claims with respect to labor, environmental, securities, vendor and other matters arising out of the Company’s normal course of business. While the impact on future financial results is not subject to reasonable estimation because considerable uncertainty exists, management believes that the ultimate liabilities resulting from such lawsuits and claims will not materially affect the Company’s consolidated earnings, financial position or cash flow.

The Company has various commitments to purchase materials, supplies and utilities as part of the ordinary conduct of business. The Company’s basic raw materials for its products are steel and aluminum, both of which are purchased from multiple sources. The Company is subject to fluctuations in the cost of these raw materials and has periodically adjusted its selling prices to reflect these movements. There can be no assurance, however, that the Company will be able to fully recover any increases or fluctuations in raw material costs from its customers. The Company also has commitments for standby letters of credit and for purchases of capital assets.

At September 30, 2012, the Company was party to certain indemnification agreements covering environmental remediation, lease payments and other potential costs associated with properties sold or businesses divested. For agreements with defined liability limits the maximum potential amount of future liability was $11. The Company accrues for costs related to these items when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. At September 30, 2012, the Company also had guarantees of $41 related to the residual values of leased assets.