AKTI learned, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on June 10, 2009, that U.S. Customs denied the AKTI request for an extension of the comment period.
We must now ask our national lawmakers to help us. That should be
the first letter you write. You can find out who your lawmakers are and their email addresses by going to …
Find your congressional officials
Review our communication suggestions
This is the absolute # 1 action step you must take TODAY.
Please use one of the following letters to email your lawmakers
(You can also follow up with a copy sent via regular mail or fax to help reinforce your request. If you know the lawmaker, please call them. Even if you don’t know them, an assistant will make a note of your concern and convey it to the lawmaker.)
Be sure to personalize your letters
Individual Letter to Legislators as Word Document (DOC)
Individual Letter to Legislators as Rich Text File (RTF)
Company Letter to Legislators as Word Document (DOC)
Company Letter to Legislators as Rich Text file (RTF)
Now … if you have the time, please also voice your objections to U.S. Customs itself. You can only use regular mail to them. Your letter must be received in the Washington Customs office officially by June 21st (but that’s a Sunday, so shoot for June 20 or sooner).
Address your letter to …
19 CFR Part 177
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Office of International Trade, Regulations and Rulings
Attention: Intellectual Property and Restricted Merchandise Branch
Mint Annex, 799 Ninth St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20229
Please send a copy of your email or letter to AKTI so we can keep track of totals. This will be powerful information that allows us to tell Customs we know how much opposition there is to their proposed action.
While U.S. Customs has officially denied our request (on June 10) for an extension of the comment period, we believe that letters sent to them objecting to their proposed action would still be helpful. You can use the following short models. Please make sure they get to the U.S. Customs office in Washington, DC by Saturday, June 20 (Note that Customs will only accept letters sent via regular mail.)
Be sure to personalize your letters
Individual Response to Customs as Word Document (DOC)
Individual Response to Customs as Rich Text file (RTF)
Company Response to Customs as Word Document (DOC)
Company Response to Customs as Rich Text File (RTF)