Recent CIT Case Shows Importers Need to Verify UL Marks, Customs Lawyer Says
A recent Court of International Trade decision demonstrates the importance to importers of cooperating closely with suppliers on the use of certification marks, and taking the additional step of using available tools to verify the validity of marks from Underwriters Laboratories, customs lawyer Larry Friedman said in a post on his Customs Law Blog.
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In that decision, CIT found an importer, ICCS, was liable for liquidated damages for its failure to redeliver merchandise that CBP had found displayed the UL mark without the certification body’s certification (see 1901100034). The trade court found ICCS only registered the product with UL after importation, and that the registration of a similar product with a different name and label did not extend to the products at issue with CBP.
“This case is a good primer on dealing with UL certified (or allegedly UL certified products),” Friedman said. Importers should seek confirmation from their suppliers, in the form of a certificate, that products bearing UL marks are actually UL-certified. They should also use the publicly available UL verification system at https://verify.ul.com/ to confirm what the supplier says.
Importers that bring in goods with unauthorized UL marks should not expect leniency, Friedman said. UL’s entire business model is built around the integrity of its mark, so it has to strictly enforce its license agreements. The certification body maintains a “strict zero-tolerance policy,” and does not agree to retroactive licenses, Friedman said. From CBP’s point of view, the UL mark “is a reliable sign that the product is safe,” so CBP “treats this as an important issue. Again, unless the importer can prove the merchandise is properly marked, it should expect to lose the merchandise,” Friedman said.