Acorn International LLC

101 School House Lane

Boxborough, MA 01719

+1

-

978

-

263

-

4334(o)

+1

-

978

-

501

-

2962

(c)

dslocum@

acornintl

.net

PRESS RELEASE

July 24

, 2006

The United St

ates Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance fo

r Acorn

International’

s

EHSSAssurance

TM

trademark.

Acorn’s Principal developed

EHSSAssurance

TM

as

a set of guiding tools designed to facilitate each

of

the company’s

service assignment

s with international partners

. EHSS Assurance

TM

is unique to

Acorn Int

ernational for use with its partners and clients worldwide. Special features are that it:

.

Ensures a consistent level of quality while minimizing the cost of and complexity of an

extensive international team

.

Is based on established international guidelin

es, best practices, and extensive, hands

-

on

experience

.

Includes established step

-

wise process and defined “tool box" protocols that simplify, guide,

and facilitate local consultants’ work

EHSS Assurance includes the following four modules:

Environmental

Impact Assessment

–

EIA Assurance

A

n 8

-

step process to direct and oversee

environmental impact assessment

in a manner that helps

ensure a consistent, high level of quality and performance to client expectations. It includes pro

-

forma

protocols for EIA term

s of reference, information requirements, execution plan, and impact rating

system

.

Environmental Baseline Assessment

–

EBS Assurance

A

n 11

-

step process to direct and oversee

the

quality of environmental baseline studies. It includes

pro

-

forma protocols f

or EIA work plans, information requirements, health and safety plans, data

quality SOPs, and data reporting templates.

Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainabilit

y Management System Assessment

-

EMS

Assurance

A

process to direct and oversee

the

quali

ty of environmental management system assessment. It

includes a formal protocol with a questionnaire broken into 4 modules (management practices,

operating practices, organizational structure, and senior management focus), defined rating criteria

based on

best practices, and a knowledge

-

based feature for benchmarking.

Environmental Due Diligence/Liability Evaluation

–

EDD Assurance

A

process to direct and oversee

the

quality of environmental due diligence evaluations and liability

evaluations for asset tra

nsfers. It includes a formal protocol based on ASTM standard and tailored

with international application experience, and it includes an established method for

consistently

characterizing the consequence and likelihood of liability risks

.

A

c

o

r

n

I

n

t

e

r

n

a

t

i

o

n

a

l

C

O

N

S

U

L

T

I

N

G

-

P

A

R

T

N

E

R

I

N

G

A

c

o

r

n

I

n

t

e

r

n

a

t

i

o

n

a

l

C

O

N

S

U

L

T

I

N

G

-

P

A

R

T

N

E

R

I

N

G