RediBag seeks an order compelling AT&T to produce emails relevant to a lawsuit it’s pursuing against a former sales broker for misappropriating RediBag’s trade secrets, said its motion Friday (docket 1:23-mc-00028) in U.S. District Court for Delaware. RediBag, which supplies plastic and paper bags to supermarkets, learned through discovery that the former broker, John Maierhoffer, communicated with RediBag’s competitors through his AT&T-owned BellSouth email address, said the motion. RediBag subpoenaed AT&T Dec. 9 for copies of Maierhoffer’s emails, including those he admitted to deleting, plus the metadata of those emails, it said: “RediBag wants to see the content of the emails and to determine when they were deleted (including whether they were deleted when Maierhoffer knew or should have known that litigation was underway or imminent).” RediBag’s motion alleges AT&T is dragging its feet on the subpoena, citing the referral of one AT&T representative to Yahoo as the company that’s in possession of the missing emails. An internet search reveals that Yahoo “is under contract with AT&T to provide certain services to AT&T customers with various types of email addresses,” including BellSouth email addresses, it said. “In an abundance of caution, RediBag also has subpoenaed Yahoo, which has not yet responded,” it said. “In other words, publicly available evidence suggests that AT&T has the practical ability to obtain the requested documents.” Several websites visited by RediBag attorneys as recently as Friday show “a relationship between Yahoo and AT&T that almost certainly provides AT&T with the practical ability to obtain the emails of users” with BellSouth email addresses, including Maierhoffer’s, it said. AT&T didn’t comment Monday.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Compliance with a new country of origin (COO) reporting requirement in the Automated Export System would be difficult for smaller and occasional exporters, many of which would likely have to develop new processes to report that information, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America told the Census Bureau. The NCBFAA urged Census to research whether it can collect that COO information from other sources before it decides to move forward with the proposal.
Cynthia Whittenburg was named executive vice president of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s National Education Institute, the NCBFAA said in an emailed news release Jan. 23. Whittenburg, formerly of CBP before joining the NCBFAA institute as associate director, takes over as head of the institute from Kiko Zuniga, who led it for 12 years, the NCBFAA said.
LAREDO, Texas -- An upcoming CBP final rule requiring continuing education for customs brokers could be issued as soon as the first half of 2023, with the continuing education requirements taking effect in 2024 for reporting on the 2027 broker triennial report, said Kiko Zuniga, director of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s National Education Institute.
A recent change to how customs brokers get duty-free certificates for entries under government military contracts will not affect submission of the certificates to CBP, the agency said in a CSMS message. The decommissioning of the Defense Contract Management Agency’s duty-free entry eTool system “has no impact on the submission of duty-free certificates for CBP purposes,” CBP said. Brokers will not have access to the new Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) that replaces eTool.
The Agricultural Marketing Service on Jan. 18 released a final rule requiring submission in ACE of National Organic Program organic certificates for all organic products entering the U.S. as part of the entry process. The agency’s sprawling final rule also sets requirements for organic certifiers, recognition of foreign organic certifications, labeling requirements and the calculation of organic content of multi-ingredient products, among other things.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control Dec. 30 fined a multinational Danish-based refrigeration manufacturer more than $4.3 million for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, Syria and Sudan. Danfoss, which also sells air conditioners and other cooling and heating products, illegally directed customers in all three countries to make payments through a U.S. financial institution, OFAC said in an enforcement notice. The company also made illegal payments to entities in Iran and Syria.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a 180-day temporary denial order Dec. 13 against three people and two companies for illegally sending controlled exports to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme. Along with the denial order, DOJ indicted the three individuals, along with others, on charges related to the illegal exports, including money laundering, wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiring to defraud the U.S.
“Significant changes are imminent” for brokers that deal with duty-free entries under government military contracts through the Defense Contract Management Agency, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed alert. Beginning Jan. 14, customs brokers no longer will have access to a portal in the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) to download the duty-free certification required for entry filing, the NCBFAA said. Instead, they’ll access duty-free entry “via a tokenized email,” the trade group said. While the process after the email is received “appears to be user friendly,” it’s still unclear how the broker will get the email and whether it will be timely sent, the NCBFAA said.