In a resounding victory for electronics reuse advocates in the U.S., the Librarian of Congress has granted individuals and companies alike the right to unlock used phones and tablets for the next three years.

The ruling eliminates a key obstacle for companies attempting to re-market used devices and concludes more than a year of uncertainty surrounding the future legality of unlocking in the U.S.

SERI has begun conducting surprise audits of R2-certified facilities, with auditors concentrating on downstream due diligence and other topics of concern.

Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI), the Boulder, Colo.-based nonprofit organization managing the R2 e-scrap environmental standard, began conducting spot – or unannounced – audits of facilities in mid-August. So far, it has conducted about a dozen.

After a long-simmering defamation lawsuit was dismissed this month, the Basel Action Network has gone on the offensive. A report released by BAN today indicates Intercon Solutions, a Chicago-area processor that appears to be inactive, exported at least 167 containers of scrap material to Hong Kong and other Asian ports between 2010 and 2011.

The new allegations, which build on BAN's initial export charges against Intercon, suggest Intercon's activity was "likely in contravention of international, Chinese and U.S. law," the group claims.

The world's only remaining glass-to-glass recycling outlet for CRTs has idled its panel and funnel furnaces in Bharuch, India for "heavy maintenance" and stopped taking CRT glass from its U.S. partner, Cali Resources, E-Scrap News has learned.

The president of Cali Resources said any glass that would traditionally head to India is being processed in Mexico for a construction-products venture between Cali Resources and its partners.

This week a Kentucky news channel unearthed a CRT dumping ground near a processing facility owned by processor Global Environmental Services. The company, which also recently lost or withdrew from its environmental certifications, has since admitted to the wrongdoing. According to a report published Wednesday by Lexington, Ky.

The federal government provided $96,000 to a New York company to design production-scale equipment to remove integrated circuits and components from printed circuit boards.

The U.S.

A bill that had the potential to do away with North Carolina's e-scrap program was revised before passing.

House Bill 765, which now awaits the signature of Gov. Pat McCrory, gained the approval of North Carolina legislators in the House on Sept. 29.

The processor known for its controversial approach to handling CRT glass has been fined more than $100,000 for an alleged series of worker safety violations cited at its Plainfield, Ill. plant. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued 26 "serious" violations on Sept. 22 to Kuusakoski U.S., the American wing of the Finnish metals company Kuusakoski Recycling.

An electronics recycling firm has been sued by Microsoft for allowing more than 70,000 Microsoft Office key cards to be re-sold on the black market.

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month in a Seattle district court, Microsoft accuses Global Electronic Recycling (GER), a Phoenix processor, of breaching the terms of a 2009 contract that explicitly called for the valuable activation cards to be destroyed.

Canada's retailer trade group says New Brunswick's proposed e-scrap takeback and recycling program would hide fees from consumers and increase red tape for businesses.

A provincial regulator defended the proposed program, however, saying it follows the approach of its provincial neighbor, Quebec, and is consistent with the direction other jurisdictions in Canada are moving.