Derivative Instruments Derivitve Instruments (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Derivatives, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Our treasury policies provide for risk mitigation of the effects of certain foreign currency exposures through the purchase of foreign exchange forward contracts. Our policy prohibits speculation in financial instruments for profit on the exchange rate price fluctuation. We enter into foreign exchange forward contracts primarily to economically hedge the impact of fluctuations of foreign exchange arising from intercompany inventory sales made to our subsidiaries that are denominated primarily in Euros or British Pounds, customer receivables of our foreign subsidiaries denominated primarily in U.S. Dollars and Euros and intercompany loans denominated in Euros, Swedish Krona, Norwegian Kroner, Danish Krone and Canadian Dollars. Our foreign exchange forward contracts are not designated as hedging instruments for accounting purposes; accordingly, we record these contracts at fair value on our consolidated balance sheets, with changes in fair value recognized in earnings in the period of the change.