Paul2412, It is not for the manufacturer ie Airbus to mandate a service bulletin and in fact they cannot in any case it is for the state of design to do this so only EASA would have been able to mandate a change from a SB to an AD. In earlier posts I have seen the term "mandatory service bulletin" used though manufactures often use this term only the state of design can change this from an optional SB to a mandatory airworthiness directive, so in summary from a legal standpoint Airbus did issue an SB but EASA never mandated it so I cannot see why there would be an issue as in reality AF really did not have to change anything as all service bulletins are optional until changed to an AD.