U.S. CBP e-Recordation & Related Support

With decades of experience working with a diverse range of brands, we excel at identifying and distilling the key elements that distinguish authentic from counterfeit products. Our deep understanding of brand-specific counterfeit indicators and awareness of overarching themes allows us to create effective authentication guidelines tailored to your needs.

Beyond just being a training aid, these guides make a strong first impression, demonstrating your brand’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of your products and supporting enforcement efforts. Once the manual is completed, we also ensure that it is provided to CBP to update your related e-recordations.

Once your brand training manual is complete, we can coordinate and conduct training sessions (in-person or virtually) for CBP and other agencies to raise brand awareness. Whether organizing a standalone training or attending a group training (on your brand’s behalf) as planned by an industry association, we ensure your brand receives the appropriate exposure to relevant law enforcement agencies based on your priorities.

We help ensure that CBP understands the value your brand places on their efforts. This includes providing support when needed with potential detainments or seizures, such as authentication assistance, photo/sample requests, MSRP estimations, e-allegation filings, and Victim Impact Statements.

Depending on the size and scope of a counterfeit case, there may be opportunities to seek assistance from the appropriate federal agency for potential criminal enforcement. Your e-recordations open the door for engagement with the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Center and related CBP Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) tied to your product category, enhancing the effectiveness of your brand protection strategy.

Regardless of the quantity involved, the details on seizure notices should not be overlooked. If this shipment was seized, how many others have slipped past CBP involving the same parties? If only a couple items, what if they were samples leading to a larger order or part of a mixed shipment containing multiple brands?

Even with limited importer and exporter information, we conduct investigations to locate viable intelligence, potentially identifying related individuals, entities, brick-and-mortar locations, or e-commerce channels. A brief investigation to determine whether a deeper dive is warranted is always a worthwhile endeavor—a single seizure could be the tip of the counterfeit iceberg.

While not dependent on having e-recordations in place, import record research is a complementary avenue that often goes hand-in-hand with our importer and exporter investigations. If you suspect that a domestic entity is importing your brand’s products into the U.S., or if you have received a seizure notice from CBP, our access to closed source, third-party data on ocean freight shipments helps add context and value. In researching additional and previously imported shipments, we can obtain details from bills of lading, and identify additional trading partners, to include shippers, exporters and notify parties.

Often, this research also plays a crucial role in our Unauthorized Supplier Identification investigations. If you are concerned that unauthorized suppliers or other known parties are importing your products, import records can be a treasure trove of intelligence. Beyond potentially confirming the scale of the potential threat, we use these resources to track shipments to their origins, identifying other potential sources and players in the supply chain.