_By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling_
The Basel Action Network has issued a statement dismissing the recent legal complaint of defamation from Intercon Solutions and correcting what it says are numerous errors in the legal filing.
In the time since Intercon filed its [injunction][1] two weeks ago, BAN says it has yet to be served papers and suggested that the company was simply trying to sway popular opinion.
"BAN has yet to be served papers because they're not authorized to do business in the State of Illinois," says Cathy Pilkington, a lawyer representing Intercon Solutions. "Because of that, we have to go through the Illinois Secretary of State, which should serve BAN within the next ten days."
BAN also sought to clarify statements made in the legal filing. The organization's response is outlined below:
> In its complaint, Intercon made the following statement: "BAN is a Washington non-profit corporation that certifies businesses in Illinois and elsewhere that provide e-recycling services," when in fact BAN does not certify any businesses to anything, and instead relies on accredited third-party certification bodies to perform professional audits and independently assure conformity to the e-Stewards Standard.
>
> Intercon further perpetuates false information by stating that, "In return for the payment of BAN's fees, BAN audits e-recycling businesses to determine if they qualify for its 'e-Stewards' certification." In fact, BAN does not receive any money for any audits (this is a business-to-business transaction between the recyclers and their certification bodies), and BAN has never received any money from Intercon Solutions in conjunction with the certification program. To the contrary, BAN spends out-of-pocket money for a program administrator to witness a percentage of the third-party audits in order to ensure quality control of the entire program. BAN does eventually, however, require a marketing and licensing fee from companies after they have been recommended by their certification body for e-Stewards certification; that fee funds not only marketing of certified e-Stewards recyclers, but also the active oversight of the program in order to prevent unscrupulous companies from scamming the system.
>
> Intercon put forth additional false information in its complaint by stating: "Upon information and belief, BAN, after obtaining Intercon's confidential information, under false pretenses, abusing the access and information that Intercon had provided to BAN in reasonable reliance on BAN's assurance that it would not abuse the audit process, began an unlawful surveillance of Intercon's premises." In fact, BAN did not receive any information from Intercon's certification body as part of BAN's independent investigation, but rather relied on photographs of intermodal shipping containers located at Intercon's Chicago facility, as well as the formal response from the competent authority in Hong Kong rejecting one of those containers as hazardous waste illegally entering Hong Kong. The container was returned to the consignee, as previously reported. Photographing shipping containers from public property is not an illegal activity, and simply documents the facts. This evidence, presented to Intercon on the first day of their certification audit, and again right after their audit, in order to give them a fair opportunity to respond, was actually collected and verified well before the beginning of their certification audit. During the actual Intercon certification audit, neither the auditor nor the BAN observer conducted any investigation related to BAN's separate investigation. As a public interest group, BAN always retains the right to legally investigate and document factual information.
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