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Commitments and Contingent Liabilities | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2020
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 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or a comparable state environmental agency as a Potentially Responsible Party (“PRP”) at a number of sites and has recorded aggregate accruals of $8 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 $6 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. In March 2015, the Bundeskartellamt, or German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”), conducted unannounced inspections of the premises of several metal packaging manufacturers, including a German subsidiary of the Company. The local court order authorizing the inspection cited FCO suspicions of anti-competitive agreements in the German market for the supply of metal packaging products. The Company conducted an internal investigation into the matter and discovered instances of inappropriate conduct by certain employees of German subsidiaries of the Company. The Company cooperated with the FCO and submitted a leniency application with the FCO which disclosed the findings of its internal investigation to date. In April 2018, the FCO discontinued its national investigation and referred the matter to the European Commission (the “Commission”). Following the referral, Commission officials conducted unannounced inspections of the premises of several metal packaging manufacturers, including Company subsidiaries in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The Commission's investigation is ongoing and, to date, the Commission has not officially charged the Company or any of its subsidiaries with violations of competition law. The Company is cooperating with the Commission and submitted a leniency application with the Commission with respect to the findings of the investigation in Germany referenced above. This application may lead to the reduction of possible future penalties. At this stage of the investigation the Company believes that a loss is probable but is unable to predict the ultimate outcome of the Commission’s investigation and is unable to estimate the loss or possible range of losses that could be incurred, and has therefore not recorded a charge in connection with the actions by the Commission. If the Commission finds that the Company or any of its subsidiaries violated competition law, fines levied by the Commission could be material to the Company's operating results and cash flows for the periods in which they are resolved or become reasonably estimable. In March 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) at the Port of Milwaukee issued a penalty notification alleging that certain of the Company’s subsidiaries intentionally misclassified the importation of certain goods into the U.S. during the period 2004-2009. CBP initially assessed a penalty of $18 and subsequently mitigated to $6. The Company has acknowledged to CBP that the goods were misclassified and has paid all related duties. The Company has asserted that the misclassification was unintentional and disputes the penalty assessment. At the present time, based on the information available, the Company does not believe that a loss for the alleged intentional misclassification is probable. There can be no assurance the Company will be successful in contesting the assessed penalty. The Company and its subsidiaries are also subject to various other lawsuits and claims with respect to governmental, 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 course 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 (including in connection with tariffs recently imposed in the U.S., which may increase costs) and has periodically adjusted its selling prices to reflect these movements. There can be no assurance 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 March 31, 2020, the Company was party to certain indemnification agreements covering environmental remediation, lease payments and other potential costs associated with properties sold or businesses divested. 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.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for commitments and contingencies. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2127136 Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 440 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2144648 + Details
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